


fait accompli

by ManicPixieDreamPharaoh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: College AU, Drunken Kissing, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor other pairings if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-02-08 14:49:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12866796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManicPixieDreamPharaoh/pseuds/ManicPixieDreamPharaoh
Summary: All Nasch wanted was a chance to meet new people at college– Vector just wanted a roommate who didn't suck.Neither get what they wanted, of course.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xephonia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xephonia/gifts).



Casting a bored glance at the common area littered with suitcases, the legs of a student slung lazily over the back of one of the couches, Vector wondered how it could possibly be that the RA guiding him on this tour of the building sounded even more bored by this information than he himself felt.

He mused at how someone as wholly unfriendly and unfuckable as him was ever given this position, surely at least _one_ of those traits was necessary.

Though, he reasoned, with a tilted glance at the other boy, as terrible a choice as white tights were, they did cling tightly to a lithe body, and Vector could appreciate that.

He followed a few steps behind him, idly following him through the corridor, stepping on the back of his foot when the blonde stopped suddenly.

“Ah-! Watch it!”

It had been an accident, but that didn’t mean this guy needed to know that, and it didn’t mean that Vector was sorry it happened.

He shrugged, grinned widely, “shouldn’t have stopped without warning.”

The RA - Tenjou, Vector finally remembered his name - glowered at him coolly, a vexed glare that read a little too much like a pout and only served to increase Vector’s grin, before sliding a key into the door in front of him.

 

“Your room,” he said, grunting slightly as Vector pushed through the door in an attempt to enter first, “You’re allowed to do whatever as long as you don’t breach your rental agreement. So no fires or holes in the wall-”

Vector wandered around the room, no longer listening. He went straight for the bed that was already occupied, a suitcase atop dark purple sheets. He picked up the tag that hung from it.

“Kamishiro.” He said as he read, glancing up as he heard the RA’s voice come to a halt.

“Are you even listening?”

Vector shrugged, “nope.” He replied, studying the rubber shark keychain that hung from the suitcase, folding it in half and letting it spring back flat.

Roommates were entirely foreign to him- honestly, most people were- only child and golden child syndrome had created a glorious, if isolated boy and that was certainly the cause, as many a psychologist had assured his parents, and not the fact that he is the ‘pure and chaotic spawn of the devil’ as many a _teacher_ had assured them.

“Whatever. So, everything in the kitchen is school-issue. Don’t fuck with the appliances, it’ll be withdrawn from you deposit and then-”

“Hey, question.” Vector cut in, picking at a scab on his knuckle.

Tenjou Kaito met his eyes, still carrying that aloof rudeness, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Speaking of school issue, that stick in your ass, was that provided for you, or did you bring that from home?” He yawned widely, suddenly aware of the weight in his eyelids. It’d been a few days since he’d slept.

His guide just stared at him with a slight crease to his brow, wordless but not searching for any to fill the silence.

Well that was no fun, Vector thought, dropping his backpack onto the end of the free bed, he glanced at the RA again.

“I lock the front doors at 10. If you’re later than that, you sleep outside.”

Vector nodded at him, “yeah, whatever.”

And he left without another word, no awkward nod. The conversation had ended and he had left.

Vector laughed softly once the door clicked shut, figures there had to be someone worse at conversing than Mizael had been. At least when he’d given Mizael shit, he’d gotten to laugh in his face while he yelled in an _attempt_ to be threatening and then followed him home anyway to play on the console games Mizael had scavenged from thrift stores.

 

-

 

Vector stirred the powder flavouring into his cup noodles, holding it in his palms to leech off of the heat, he leant his face close and let the steam hit his face, sighing contently at the warmth. He perched cross legged on his roommate's bed and scarfed them down quickly. Making no effort to not spill them, part of him was a little pissed off that he _didn’t_.

What kind of a person had somewhere to be on move-in day? How early had _his_ tour been? Vector dumped the empty cup in the bin, fork in the sink, and drank water from the tap because throwing himself onto his back on his bed.

He shuffled through his decks, ordering them by card type and then shuffling the formation away, he turned his head to glare at the empty bed across the room.

“I’m going to make this entire semester hell for you, shark boy.” he swore, mostly to himself.

 

-

 

Teenage acne and an overly sympathetic mother had left Vector with the unfortunate habit of an extremely devout skincare routine.

He dumped his shower bag in the bathroom sink and slathered the night cream over his skin, distorting his skin to stretch it from his skull, rubbing hard to spite the dermatologist who’d told him to use light pressure, he slapped his cheeks twice once it was applied, enjoying the numbness of it as the serum stang a little on his skin.

 

-

  
He woke with a start as he always did, catching his breath with a cough, he pounded his chest with a cough and swung out of bed, he scowled at the empty, perfectly made bed across the room.

The idea of having a roommate sucked, but not knowing who he was, made it infinitely worse. He had advantage, and honestly, Vector wished _he_ had thought of committing himself to being a cryptid for the first week just to mess with his head.

He reached over and tugged one corner of the fitted sheet on the mattress loose, just because, before entering the bathroom.

He narrowed his eyes immediately.

The tiny sink was clear, the space where his things had been now empty, instead, a sticky note affixed to the mirror, handwriting that _screamed_ tightass neatly penned on it.

 

_‘You have more products than my sister did when she was_

_15, and even she made less of a mess with them. You have_

_a designated drawer, use it._

_-シャーク.’_

 

Vector already hated communal living, and he had never even met his cohabitor.

 

***

 

He felt skin scrape off of his fingers as his hands slipped down the bricks, he cursed aloud and leapt again, stretching out his fingers and grabbing painfully onto the cool metal frame of his window, feet loudly banging against the window below his own, he hoisted his weight up with a grunt.

He’d been climbing in windows since he was a kid, figured out that the window in his parent’s bathroom was never locked, and had learnt to pry it open with his fingernails when he was locked out of the house, the frame scraping his sides painfully, the cold tiles unforgiving as his knees clumsily caught his weight.

What was another set of bruises to him, he would remind himself as he pulled himself to his feet and told himself he couldn’t feel the pain, blinking tears from his eyes.

Muscle memory knew how to shift his body, taking the burden onto his chest, he wriggled through the opening, pulling his legs under his body once he was through and climbing in the room as the door swung open.

Vector used his shirt to fan his face and gazed at RA Tenjou, who was staring at him rom the doorway with a look of bored apprehension.

 

“Did you just climb in the window?”

“Did you want something?”

 

Vector grinned as they spoke over one another, gesturing graciously with his hand to encourage the other to repeat himself.

Eyes narrowed as he repeated his question, not bothering to change the inflection in the slightest.

Vector shrugged in response, “yeah.” since that was obvious.

A lengthy pause, followed by a quizzical, whispered, “why?”

There was more proof that Kaito really _was_ a human like everyone else in that one word than Vector had detected in the past three weeks living in the building, and while he hadn’t intentionally spent his time borderline-stalking the RA; he was the only person he knew well enough to actually speak to and so they established something of a relationship- Vector stole anything that belonged to Kaito that wasn’t nailed or locked down, and Kaito had given him more written warnings than ‘any student in the school’s history’ and yet, had clearly not gone through with filing them, since vector was still here.

He got another write up for questioning him, and another for tearing it up and eating it in front of him.

“Fuck you, Tenjou.” he’d whispered around flecks of carbon paper. It tasted like shit, but Vector was committed.

 

Now, he beamed at Kaito, “I wanted to see if I could!” He enthused, rubbing at his grazed palm.

“It’s literally 8pm. I haven’t locked the doors yet. Why would you-”

Vector bit back a giggle as Kaito worked himself up, spreading his palms in a shrug, “now I know that I can when I really need to.”

Frazzled, Kaito looked at the ground, swallowed hard with widened eyes in what seemed to be an attempt to quench his frustration, “you are the worst person i’ve ever met. Don’t climb in the fucking window.”

Vector grinned and flicked his fingers from his temple in a salute, “roger that, Kaito.”

The blonde raised his head and stared at him, for a moment leading Vector to believe he would correct his usage of the name, instead giving him a small nod, barely a tilt of his head, before leaving the room.

Vector climbed onto his bed and curled into himself to face the wall, feeling the sting of the grazing on his hip –where his shirt had curled up– and knee –where the rip in his jeans parted– and sighed contently, relief in the familiar twinge of a wound provoked, he closed his eyes and tried not to think about the empty bed on the other side of the room that had been taunting him for weeks, as he drifted to sleep.

 

-

 

Vector woke before the sun rose, a result of turning in early he supposed, swinging from bed. Stretching to yawn, he traded his shirt from the previous night for a clean one, rubbing at his eyes, he grabbed his phone and left the room in the dark.

His phone burnt his retinas as he clicked it on, and frowned at the time, nearly 6am and the sun was only beginning to show hints as it cast violet across the sky, he wandered down the hall, aiming to drop into one of the beanbags in front of the tv. As he padded closer to the living area, he heard a slightly raised voice through the adjourning wall, recognising it to be Kaito’s room.

He elected for a seat on the sofa rather than the beanbag, tucking a pillow beneath his shoulders and staring at the ceiling

He tried to listen in, figuring he could amuse himself with whatever relationship Kaito had that managed to contain drama that involved raised, tense voices so early in the morning, closing his eyes and resting his hands on his stomach.

  


_“-well you shouldn’t have-_

_I understand that, really. But you can’t expect-_

_Mm- I mean, yes sir._

_…._

_…_

_Just let me fucking talk to him-_

_…_

_I’m sorry- no, please-_

_…_

_Please, fuck. Just put him on the phone, let me speak to Haruto-_

_D-Dad, please._

_…._

_…_

_.._

_…_

_…_

_…_

_…_

_…_

_…_

_…_

_Yes, sir._

_…_

_Can you tell him I called?”_

 

Vector felt his stomach churn beneath his hands, as he listened to the strained tone of the RA’s voice, feeling himself sinking into memories like quicksand, hands made of tar hooking around his chest and anchoring him, soot-fingers pawing at his ribcage at the familiarity of the situation– showing respect to someone you felt none for, out of fear and self preservation.

The desperate tone was one he would never have expected to hear from the rarely-more-than-apathetic Kaito, he raked his hands through his hair as he heard a loud thud, followed by another, and then excruciating silence.

He didn’t give a shit about him, but-

God, if Vector wouldn’t kill for something to stop memories of his own father’s harsh tones from crawling through his brain now.

He pushed himself up and walked to the bedroom door, placing a hand on it and trying to decide if he was really going to do this, foot jittering, fingers twitching as the anxiety sparked through him like electricity.

  


He rubbed his free hand over his face roughly, shook it through his hair, and knocked once with his knuckle before opening the door.

The room was brightly lit, Kaito’s body hunched in the corner, arms bent over his own head, neck craned towards the ceiling.

He wasn’t crying ( _thank fuck,)_ but it was clear that this was at least partially a breakdown.

He didn’t move, and Vector could barely note his chin tilt as his eyes darted towards him.

“What.”

Vector nudged the phone on the floor with his foot, bent to retrieve it, “couldn’t sleep,” he shrugged, blowing on the screen before clicking the button, a quiet sense of comprehension dawning on him when a young face grinned out at the camera, tucked beneath an arm that clearly belonged to Kaito, a selfie that contained as little of the older of the pair as possible.

A brother, he thought, figuring that made sense. The kid was cute, not that he’d admit that, something about children filled him with dread, made his skin itch and he’d never quite figured out why.

 

“So? Jerk off, or read a fucking book. Go and do literally anything other than be here.”

Vector tossed the phone towards him, not feeling particularly sorry when it hit his shin bone and Kaito hissed slightly in pain as he rubbed at it.

“Both of those things sound _significantly_ less fun than crushing your ass in Devil Survivor 2, if i’m gonna be honest.”

Kaito’s arms lowered and he narrowed his eyes at him, “that isn’t even a multiplayer game.”

Vector grinned, “i’m surprised you’ve ever played a video game in your life, let alone a good one. But we could play something else, suggest a game. If you say something akin to halo i’m going to light the dorm on fire later.”

Steel-blue eyes studied him skeptically, Vector felt his skin crawl at the close attention but held firm, raising an eyebrow and spreading his hands in a gesture of peace.

 

“Why do you want to play video games with me.”

Vector knew that any expression of pity (whether real or fabricated) would be the wrong answer, so he tilted his head, shrugged, and picked up a model dragon from the dresser he stood beside, “told you, can’t sleep. Nothing else to do in this shithole.” He turned over the model in his hands, eyes skimming it for any hint of a mistake in the paint job, coming up empty. Kaito was painstakingly flawless in his work, he thought to himself, raising his head as cold hands took the figure from his carefully, replacing it upon it’s stand with tenderness.

Their eyes met, Kaito’s chin raised defiantly, Vector’s eyebrows hovering just shy of being raised, silence spread between them for a moment, an empathetic understanding that came without a trace of sympathy.

“Tales of Xillia.” Kaito said finally, and Vector felt his lips twitch.

“You ready to lose, _Resident Assistant?_ ”

Vector could have sworn that was a ghost of a smile that shifted Kaito’s face, not that he’d point it out.

He stole the case Kaito held up and led the way to the dorm tv, dropping into a beanbag and setting it up.

 

-

 

The pillow smashed Vector’s face, hard.

He tried to catch it in the air and failed, pivoting and smacking down on Kaito’s arm in retaliation.

“You _suck_ at this!” He complained, flopping over the edge of the beanbag, looking at him upside-down.

Kaito glared back at him pridefully, “you have no semblance of a strategy. Do you even understand what co-op is? It means _teamwork._ ”

Vector stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at him, “I had a strategy, I just didn’t tell you about it. You’re still the reason we lost the campaign.”

Kaito shrugged and put his controller onto the coffee table, “whatever, there’s no way to win with you as a partner.”

Vector twisted his body, wriggling and shuffling till he could reach out enough to land his feet in Kaito’s lap, he looked at the ceiling.

Kaito pushed his feet off, and Vector replaced them immediately, sighing as Kaito hesitated before asking, “what would you have done if I hadn’t been awake?”

“Hu-?”

“You don’t sleep well, do you? I hear you climbing in your window every other night.”

Vector grunted, didn’t like the direct questioning, being asked as though Kaito fucking Tenjou actually gave a shit, he pushed his heel into his thigh, “woulda climbed out my window, like i do every other night.”

Silence.

They stewed in it somewhat bitterly.

 

“Whatever. I actually, genuinely could not care less.” Kaito said slowly, then made a soft sound of non-committance, “You can use the front door next time.”

Vector sat up, anchoring his chest with his arms, and tilted his head at him, “really?”

Kaito looked away from him, at his phone that rested on his knee, “what do I care if you’re out late? I’d rather you didn’t break a leg from the fall, i’d have to be the one to help.” His hand toyed with the phone, swiping back and forth slowly, not actually doing anything, just interacting with the symbols that covered the wallpaper, “Use the window to come back in, though. That way I don’t have to know what time you’re coming back.”

Vector considered this, eyes darting to the side then staring at the other boy in surprise, “huh.” He said pointedly, licking his lips, “sounds good.”

Those cold blue eyes met his again, “try to stay out of trouble.”

Aaaaaaaand that was it, Vector thought, shifting his lips and springing to his feet, he stretched to the side until his joints cracked and grinned down at him, “but what if the trouble was in me all along?” he teased, reaching over and tousling blonde hair before legging it back down the hallway to his own room, still too early for Kaito to take much retaliation and risk waking the other residents.

 

He pushed open the door to his dorm, flicking on the light and stopping short.

There was a figure, asleep in the second bed.

“Holy shit.” he said aloud, watching as the figure grunted, twisting as they awoke, arms lifting their chest from the bed while rubbing at tired eyes.

So his roommate really did exist, and seemed mostly human–at a glance. (Frankly, he’d been angling for an alien theory, but he’d been thinking that about _himself_ since he was six.)

The guy looked at him, and he was shirtless, a silver necklace hung on a cord around his neck and rested neatly on his chest, hair stupid, face fucking _intolerable_ , and stifled a yawn behind his fist.

“Do you mind? Trying to sleep over here.”

Vector hated him, hated him with every ounce of his body already.

He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and climbed into his own bed, making eye contact with the other as he shifted the pillow to a better position.

“Can you turn out the light?”

“Sorry, trying to sleep over here!” He said sweetly, nuzzling into his pillow and closing his eyes, smiling as he heard joints creak and feet pad, before the sound of a light switch flicking off and a muttered complaint under his breath.

“Goodnight, Shark-kun!”

“Fuck off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special thanks to [ Lu](http://www.twitter.com/acceluration) for video game suggestions lmao.


	2. Chapter 2

“Do I need to clear out tonight so you and mister ‘aliens are real, one lives in my head’ can fuck without worrying i’m listening in?” 

Vector tossed the basketball in the air and caught it, enjoying the hollow sound. He repeated the action, head hanging off the end of his bed so the small fan in the corner hit his face directly. 

He wouldn’t leave if his roommate said yes, and if he said no, they both knew it would ruin his plans for the evening. Vector tossed the ball again and almost missed it, extending his arms beyond his head to catch it just in time. 

Neither of them were in athletics programs, Vector had no clue how the ball had ended up in their room, but when he asked if it was Nasch’s, tossing it hand to hand, and received and grunted no and a request to stop, he adopted it as his own and made a point to play with it whenever they were both in the room. 

He found himself doing it even when alone in the room, having a way to keep his hands busy soothed the restlessness that usually itched through him. 

Three months as roommates had seen the brunt of school work take hold of fucking  _ honors student Kamishiro Ryouga _ , meaning they saw more of one another than they’d like to, and when Yuma Tsukumo visited, all sunshine and smiles, Vector was more than happy to keep him company, couldn’t quiet the urge to smear his tar stained, greasy fingertips against his arm while he feigned excitement, grabbing the other boy’s arm to tell him about the latest bird skeleton he’d been studying. 

 

Yuma went to school on another campus, he had learned, and while he and Ryouga had decided it was best to call it quits on their high-school sweethearts relationship, they still laced fingers when the lights were out during visits, and Vector could hear quietly whispered requests for affection when they thought he was sleeping. 

Only once, had there been a reaction, only one night where he had turned to face the wall, furious at the stiffening in his groin while he heard Yuma’s soft but tantalising voice moan for  _ shaakku _ to  _ please kiss him. _

And Vector wasn’t jealous, and he didn’t touch himself then, and he didn’t think about those sounds when he  _ did _ jerk off in the shower the next morning. If he did, it was purely out of contempt for Nasch, to highlight, at least to himself, that he wasn’t the only one privy to such auditory delights. 

 

“He let  _ you _ read his novel?” Nasch replied incredulously, tuning his stupid guitar on his own bed. The slow tension build of a guitar string might have been one of the worst sounds Vector had ever heard, tossing the ball harder, laughing when it hit the roof until he had to catch it before it came crashing directly onto his face. 

He ignored Nasch’s muttering at the collision, chose not the hear the ‘wish it hit you,’ and tossed it again.

“Seemed more like a weird self insert daydream than a college level draft chapter, but yep, first chapter at least,” the ball hit his knee and slid down his chest so he could throw it again, “your boy is a little nuts, huh? How’s it feel to be dating a mental case?”

Nasch barely hesitated, the tuning had stopped, before responding, “I’m living with one, Yuma is hardly the problem.” 

Vector tossed the ball again and looked at him seriously before speaking slowly, “I know that you think that was a really good call, but it wasn’t. Do better.” 

He saw the ball at the last minute, too far for his arms to reach, he flung his chest up and attempted to spike it back into the air volleyball style, but misconfigured the angle. 

He saw it fly behind his head, and spun quickly just in time to see it collide with the side of Nasch’s stupid face, point blank. 

He pressed his knuckles between his teeth to stifle his laugh as best he could, before he saw Nasch fling it back twice as hard, ducking with a yell to avoid it, he felt it graze his shoulder blades as it bounced off the wall.

 

“That wasn’t very nice, Shark.” He pouted, sitting up and looking at him, “mine was an accident!”   
Nasch glared at him with his ridiculous, long suffering expression he always wore (as long as  _ Yuma _ wasn’t present) and shook his head, “you enjoyed it too much for that to be true.”

Vector placed a hand over an approximation of his heart, “I am mortified you would even suggest I would intentionally mean to do you harm.” 

Blue eyes glared at him, as Nasch made his way to his side of the room, sitting beside him on the bed, much to Vector’s entirely conspicuous disgust. 

 

“Vector.” 

“Shark.” 

Vector watched him open his mouth to speak, then close it again and purse his lips slightly, “what will it take, to make you leave for the night.” 

He had nowhere to go, actually, but just shrugged, bit at a fingernail, “forty thousand yen?” 

Nasch sighed, standing, “why would I even think you’d be a decent person? Let me have this, you finished the milk this week.” 

Vector’s jaw dropped slightly, he narrowed his eyes, “yeah, i did, because you left your dishes in the sink  _ again _ !” 

“I was in a hurry! I would have done them as soon as class was finished- god, you are so passive aggressive and you blow things  _ way _ out of proportion-” 

“Hey Nasch? Fuck you,” Vector stood, going to the kitchen, he yanked the bottle of  _ organic, pressed orange juice _ Nasch was always drinking from the door and unscrewed the lid. 

“Don’t you fucking-”

He upturned it and squeezed, pouring it down the sink. 

He grunted as Nasch charged at him, shoving him to the side and telling him to fuck off, Vector glared back, pushing him, “fine. You know what? I will leave.” He muttered, grabbing his phone from the bed and leaving the room before Nasch could respond. 

 

He opened the door to Kaito’s room without knocking and leant on the door frame, “Kaaaaaito-kun.”

“What do you want, Vector?” 

He smiled at him, “can your boyfriend get me booze?” 

Kaito rolled his eyes, reaching for his phone, “he’s not my boyfriend.” He said in a breath, typing for a moment before returning to the laptop he had been working at. 

Vector rolled his eyes, going to him and looking at the screen, “you’re actually doing the homework?” 

Kaito shrugged, continuing to add labels to the perfectly drawn diagram on his screen, “i’ll get my ass kicked if i go home with anything less than a 98%.” 

“It’s scientific illustration, it’s boring, why does your dad even give a shit? You’re studying to become a physicist, why would you need to accurately sketch and label animal bones?” Vector asked, glancing at the phone screen as it lit up with a text and Kaito picked it up. 

“It’s literally your major, what are you talking about-” he said, typing a response, “Chris says he’ll bring some around.” 

Kaito looked up at him and blinked, “you and Nasch gonna get drunk together and argue all night so nobody can sleep, again?” 

Vector felt the betrayal of a slight flush attempt to climb his cheeks, grinning instead, “he’s not having any, Yuma is coming over and I have to get drunk to be able to deal with that gross face Nasch makes at him.” 

A raised eyebrow and an amused chuckle, “you mean his smile?” 

Vector nodded enthusiastically, and pulled the laptop away from Kaito, kneeling on the floor with it and glancing over it, he altered one of the sentences, ignoring the complaints from the other boy, “how long will loverboy be?” 

“Ten minutes, apparently IV wants to come around too, but he’s trying to lose him.” Kaito responded, texting some more before watching Vector closely, “don’t fuck up my essay.” 

Vector waved a hand at him dismissively, “i’m better at this than you, shush.” He rearranged some of the labels on a diagram, “Professor Kinoshita is so full of shit, this assignment sucks.”

“Why would you make scientific illustration your major, you said the other day that you prefer studio arts.” 

He glanced up, “I like dead shit,” he grinned at him, hitting save and passing the laptop back up to him.

Kaito took it and stared at him, slowly shaking his head, “you know Chris is taking a psychology class, right? He’d have a fucking field day with you.” 

Vector shrugged, “too bad, I can’t spend more than five minutes around him, I don’t know how you manage,” he said, stretching out on the floor and yawning, tucking his hands beneath his head and closing his eyes, regretting dumping the orange juice and not drinking it. 

He wasn’t sure which would have bothered Nasch more.

 

A few minutes passed before Vector heard a familiar voice call from down the hall, “I wont take long! I just need to check in with Shark!” 

He smirked, at least if he wasn’t there to bother Shark, there was no man he could rely on more than Thomas to fill the role, he thought as he sat up and stretched, looking at the man who opened the door to Kaito’s room. 

His hair was braided and tucked over his shoulder as he unzipped his coat, placing the brown paper bag onto the desk nearby, Vector watched Kaito move to him, his heels picking up slightly as he stretched so they could share a kiss. 

He made a gagging sound, standing and grabbing the liquor, he pulled some bills from his pocket and handed them to Christopher, he clapped a hand on Kaito’s hip, “see ya.” 

He could feel Kaito’s glare as he left quickly, bottles tucked beneath his arm, he heard the confused, yet unsurprised, “did he just slap your ass?” and grinned to himself as he made his way out of the dorms. 

 

-

 

Vector leapt from the tree branch with the bottle held carefully, he felt his body sway slightly with the intoxication as he righted himself, scratching at his neck, he made his way back towards the dorm room. 

He’d have gone directly back upon receiving the alcohol but Thomas Arclight was too much sometimes, even for him, so he had camped out on a branch and drank straight bourbon until he’d seen the brothers leave together, tossing tiny seed pods at Christopher’s head as accurately as he could. 

He’d seen Yuma enter at some stage, considered derailing his path to spite Nasch, but missed his shot. 

Now, however, he looked forward to seeing the other boy, pretended not to feel the tiny jolt of joy at the inevitable hug he knew would accompany his entry into the room.

He opened the door to Yuma, knees spread over Nasch’s lap as he tried to reach up and take something from Nasch’s raised hands as it was held above his head.

 

“Shark! Just let me see-”

“No! Fuck off!” 

“ _ Shaaku _ !” 

 

Vector chuckled amusedly, leaning on the door frame for a second before bounding across the room and snatching the leather bound book from his roommate’s outstretched arms. 

“What-”   
“Vector!” Yuma’s eyes turned towards him, lit up like the stars with a goofy grin that nearly tore his face in half.

Vector smiled back at him, unable to even hate the softness he could feel in his own smile, he stepped backwards and sat on his own bed, flipping the latch open on what he now realised was a hand-crafted scrapbook, he laughed. 

Yuma detangled himself from Nasch, as his arms tried to weave around him to pin him to his side of the room, but Yuma was too dexterous, arching his back and springing from his arms. 

Vector grinned as the boy joined him, slipping an arm around his and turning the page of the album, he tried not to think about how nice it felt to have Yuma’s soft cheek pressed warmly against his arm, his body gently against his side, shifting with slightly laboured breathing. 

“It was going to be a present before-” 

Vector glanced up at Nasch, now standing before him in a huff, hands on his hips, embarrassment obvious behind the surface anger, apparently torn between tearing the book from his hands and wanting Yuma to see the gift. 

Yuma was flipping pages, the book still in Vector’s lap, and he made eye contact with his roommate, “that’s really cute,  _ Shaaku. _ ”

He wedged his free arm around and unscrewed the liquor bottle, taking a swig, he held it out to offer some to Nasch, who took it with a glare and swallowed some, wiping his mouth after and handing it to Yuma, who had extended a hand without looking up, eyes still locked on the scrapbook- and  _ holy shit- _

“Is this the ticket to our first movie?” Yuma had finally looked up, all wide eyes and toothy grin, genuinely and sincerely  _ charmed _ by this horrifying display of disastrous teenage-crushhood that Vector was honestly slightly disgusted to discover Nasch had the capacity to feel. 

 

The bottle was snatched back from Yuma and almost emptied by Nasch, who had given up on any chance to recover from this experience, apparently, and instead settled onto his own bed and crossed his arms, taking to glaring at a wall and drinking. 

Vector grinned and took the album from Yuma, untwining their arms, “this is making me nauseous, you can gush over Shark’s huge boner for you on your own time.” he snapped the book closed on the image obviously taken without their knowledge, a girl’s face in the foreground featuring them sharing a deep kiss on a bench behind her, and dropped it to the floor.

Yuma laughed, planting a hand on Vector’s cheek and shoving his face gently, “you’re so mean.” 

Vector licked his hand and stuck his tongue out, “says you! You haven’t even said hello to me yet!” He grinned and darted his eyes toward Nasch when Yuma threw his arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, hearing the muttering under his breath, he rubbed at the excitable boy’s back. 

“How’ve you been, Yuma-kun?” he prompted, preparing himself for the barrage of conversation as Yuma launched into a detailed response, actually answering the question and excitedly telling him of his school adventures, of the boy he’d wound up sharing a dorm with, of the teacher who told him his story had potential, of falling from the rooftop of a building at a party he crashed with some friends and somehow winding up the only one without a broken bone (Nasch sat up in concern at that one, before remembering he was meant to be sulking and scowled once again.) 

 

Vector listened attentively, having cracked open the second bottle of liquor halfway through the conversation and passed it between the two of them, he laughed at the right places and enthused eagerly along with the stories, much to Yuma’s delight. 

The boy was a born storyteller, hands waving excitedly as he detailed the events of his needlessly dramatic life, Vector felt something like a sting at the times he paused to include Shark—(“you should have been there Shaaku, Rio was  _ so pissed _ .” “Maybe it’s better I wasn’t, then.”)—and wound up slightly more intoxicated than he’d planned to be. 

He was starting to tune out from the words Yuma was  _ actually _ saying, until a certain turn of phrase dragged him back in. 

“–and we played strip poker.” 

Vector perked up, leaning in, “did you lose?” 

Yuma grinned and shrugged in a way that he probably thought to be mysterious, but the furious blush across his face told Vector all he needed to know, “wouldn’t you like to know!” 

Vector tilted his head, considering it, “maybe i would.”

Yuma’s body jolted upright, hands planted on the bed in his lap as he glanced between Nasch and Vector, “we could-”

“No.”

Vector met Yuma’s eyes, grinning, and they both turned on Nasch, “c’mon Shark, you coward.” he taunted, leaning over and swiping the deck box from the bedside table and removing the cards, “you’ve been threatening to wipe the floor with me since we met.” 

Yuma laughed and went to him, “Shaaku, duel us. You know it’ll be fun!” He beamed, placing his hands on either side of Nasch’s face and making him look up at him, “I got a new form of Hope I want you to see.” 

Palming through Nasch’s deck, Vector wished Yuma had a more seductive appeal—not that there wasn’t something oddly alluring about his brilliant and purehearted innocence—that could tempt Nasch into the game. 

It wasn’t as though Vector had any desire to see Nasch naked, he just wanted to beat him  _ and _ embarrass him as much as possible, and he wouldn’t say no to watching Yuma get flustered at their naked bodies. 

 

He glanced up again once he realised Yuma had grown awfully silent, saw their faces close, Yuma’s lips at Nasch’s ear, murmuring something he couldn’t hear while Nasch kept his eyes closed, only the faintest frown on his lips. 

_ Guess he’s playing then. _ He thought, seeing  _ that _ grin spread over his lips, he clambered onto the floor with Nasch’s and his own deck, he shuffled his own cards and waited for them to join him. 

He placed the bottle of liquor in the centre of the three of them, Nasch’s knee brushing his as he took his place, so he scooted closer to Yuma instead, intentionally pressing their legs together. 

Yuma grinned blushily at him and they rolled a die to determine first turn, Vector smiling warmly back at Yuma, pretending Nasch wasn’t present. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caution: angry stupid makeouts and me pretending to care enough about duel mechanics in fic to have made the duel slightly believable. 
> 
> They're all idiots.  
> (Thank you for being patient with me!)

What turned out to be a very long duel had Vector glancing down at his deck and frowning. He was close to decking out.

He tossed the shirt Yuma had removed from him with the last blow onto his bed and took another sip of the alcohol, head buzzing pleasantly. 

He glanced from Yuma, clad in only his underwear, socks, and his key necklace—a pleasant image, if Vector was being frank—to Nasch, fully dressed aside from the purple jacket slung over his desk chair, bare feet, and the belt that had been freed from the loops.

He’d lost more life points than clothing- he was just being _a sore loser_ and refusing to play along. 

While Yuma could be losing on purpose - he was having far too much fun taking off his own clothes - Vector wasn’t, and despite having few cards remaining before he would deck out, he was still ranking highest in life points. 

By his calculations–ignoring the bullshit cop-out Nasch had pulled by counting each shoe and sock as _one item_ –Nasch should have been down to just his pants at this stage, also. 

 

He shared a look with Yuma, who crawled closer to Nasch-tucking his cards from sight to preserve some scrap of integrity and prevent cheating- and draped an arm over his neck, pressing a kiss onto his lips somewhat sloppily, “Shaaku, it’s not fair that you’re not stripping. You’re taking _all_ the fun out of it.” he crooned, a slight giggle bubbling from his lips.

Vector smiled at him, “Yeah, _Shaaku_ ” he echoed, ducking too late as a pillow was launched at his head.  
A hand shoved Yuma from him as well, “fuck you both.” 

Vector cackled, shifting to sit on the pillow that’d collided with his chest, “c’mon, _Naaaaaaaschu_ , play along…” he sang, “or are you a coward?” he asked through slitted eyelids, aware that he was… flirting?… but unable to hold himself back. He met Yuma’s grin with one of his own as Nasch’s eyes closed tightly for a moment. 

Vector liked him more with his eyes shut, which was a weird thing to think but he elected to not think about it.

 

It took about four seconds before they snapped open again with a definitive, determined nod, “fine. But i’m not getting naked.” 

Vector was about to taunt him more, when the alcohol made his head spin, and Yuma chimed in first. 

“Fine. Then whoever loses life points has to kiss whoever dealt the damage.” 

Vector’s head jerked around to look at him in surprise, raising an eyebrow. 

Yuma was well aware that both his and Nasch’s decks were heavily damage inflicting–a turn had yet to pass where Yuma had avoided effect damage of some sort–

“Yuma.” Nasch groaned, and Yuma cut in before Vector could get a word out.

“Are you afraid, _Nasch_?” he drew out the name, one Vector couldn’t remember ever hearing him say, and the look of absolute challenge in his eyes was highly entertaining.

Nasch’s eyes cut to him sharply, “you good with this rule?”

Vector winked back at him in response, laughing at the affronted eye-roll he received, “i’m down.” 

Nasch’s hand met Yuma’s in a handshake, “deal.” he said, before pushing him gently back to his own spot and glancing at his hand once more, a confident grin settling over his face. 

_Interesting_ , Vector thought, eyeing him briefly before glancing over the field. 

 

They continued the duel, and Nasch’s sudden assault upon Vector’s life points wasn’t lost on him, as he deflected damage with traps turn after turn. 

Nasch didn’t want him kissing Yuma, he concluded quickly, realising he was attempting to knock him out of the game first, and activated Damage Interest, slamming 1800 points of damage directly to Nasch’s life points with a triumphant cheer. 

Slapping the hi-five that Yuma offered him, he twisted to gloat at Nasch and the grin that had rounded out his cheeks faltered, if only for a moment, when he saw the narrowed eyes and slight smirk on Nasch’s lips.

_Nasch’s lips._

Nasch had clearly had more to drink than he’d realised, he thought, watching Nasch sort of blow him a kiss, obviously expecting him to chicken out, he swallowed back his doubt and cast himself forward, smashing their lips together. 

He brought a hand to twist through purple hair and squeezed it into a fist as he drew a line across his roommate’s lips with his tongue, before jerking their faces apart and blowing a puff of air onto his lips, laughing and sitting back in his place.

 

His chest was heaving up and down as he panted slightly, grinning as Nasch furiously wiped at his mouth with the back of his sleeve. He licked his own lips, and glanced at Yuma, who was studying them both with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s still your move, Vector.” 

He grinned, glancing at his hand, he summoned Shining Rabbit and took out Acorno, inflicting an easy 600 points of damage to Yuma, who grinned and leaned into him cheerily, “don’t pull _my_ hair.” 

Vector chuckled, glancing at Nasch who he vaguely registered to have flipped a card on his field, “I wouldn’t dream of it.” he murmured, and pressed his lips to Yuma’s softly.

His intent had been just to taunt Nasch, instead he found himself closing his eyes softly and bringing a hand up to his jaw. 

Kissing him was _nice_ , and it didn’t stop, and it took a moment for Vector to realise that Yuma was softly pushing his tongue between his lips and he wasn’t stopping him, instead softly weaving his fingers through his hair and returning the soft motions. 

 

They were _making out_ and it was fucking _good_ and Vector hadn’t kissed all that many people, but none had been like this, no kisses with tastes so pretentious it made his head swim and his chest ache. 

He slid his free hand down Yuma’s chest and hooked it around his waist, forcing himself to pull away slightly. 

He smiled into his lips as Yuma tilted forward for another soft kiss before they separated fully. 

Vector sat back and closed his eyes, feeling the air differently now, aware of the tingling places on his face where Yuma’s had been, the heavy sparks soaking through the oxygen, the energy vibrating from Nasch at his side. 

He took a breath and glanced at the fuming boy, then at Yuma, who was gathering his pants and standing to tug them onto his legs, turned away from them both with pink cheeks. 

“I draw–” he stammered slightly, adding the topmost card from his deck to his face-down hand, “and i’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be back, keep playing.” 

Vector watched him leave the room with a slight grin, too drunk to care to hide the warmth on his face, the sting of a flick to his cheek brought him back to the room.

He looked at Nasch (who he had kissed a few minutes ago? Weird), who was holding up a trap card– Zeus’ Breath, “your attack didn’t even land.” 

Vector peered at the card in his intoxicated haze and could barely focus on it, instead, he waggled his eyebrows. 

“800 damage huh? Mad I got to make out with your boyfriend, Shaaku?” 

For the third time in one round, lips met Vector’s, this time with weight behind them, hands anchoring in his hair as he felt Nasch clamber onto his lap with some semblance of grace, his own hands coming to clasp at his hips. 

He tried to hold himself up as Nasch pressed down more, pressuring him to lie prone, he eventually succumbed, letting his head hit the floor as lips angrily ground against his own.

 

“I fucking hate you,” Nasch grunted into his mouth, as Vector slid his hands down to grab at his ass, “so much.” 

Vector closed his eyes and brought his teeth to clasp down on Nasch’s lower lip sharply, kissing him back, “likewise, _Shaa-”_

Nasch’s lips cut him off, their teeth smacking together as the kiss was rejoined. 

Their hips rocked together, bodies colliding collaboratively in a drunken attempt to express their mutual disdain, neither of them able to quite justify how _this_ solved anything, but both aware that this was another way to piss each other off. Another way for one of them to come out the winner.

 

One of the hands in his hair came loose and slid towards the waistband of his pants, and Vector raised his own hips to stop it. He used his grip on Nasch’s body to swap their position, possibly pushing him _too_ firmly onto the hardwood floor. 

He parted his knees over Nasch’s waist and kissed him again, letting them trail down his chin and throat, parting his lips and biting at his throat, he grinned at the sudden jerk of Nasch’s hips against his own. 

He took that initiative and rolled his own, letting their mutual clothed erections grind against one another, drawing restrained moans from Nasch, who didn’t seem to want to give him that satisfaction.

Vector, however, exaggerated his own, dragging his tongue back up his throat and moaning directly into his mouth, deep and obscene. 

He let his lips catch on the other’s as their bodies found a rhythm together, rutting crudely together against the solid floor, Vector let his weight drop against him as they hastily dry-humped like younger teenagers than they were. 

 

Hands slid around fabric, Nasch shoving Vector’s head away to remove his shirt and then pulling it back quickly to invite his lips back to kiss and bite at his neck and chest some more, Vector’s tongue circling a nipple before his teeth caught it, a hand smacking the back of his head as the body beneath him arched with a poorly-hidden moan. 

Vector had just set himself upon the mission of making him lose control enough to stop concealing his sounds, intent upon getting the full experience if he was in this far already, when the door opened and his head was forced upwards by its collision with Nasch’s suddenly righted chest. 

Looking at Yuma through hazy eyes, blinking to clear his vision, he slowly climbed off of the other boy, sitting back and adjusting himself in his pants, as Yuma laughed at them softly. 

 

“God, it finally happened, huh?” 

Two sets of eyes narrowed in a suspicious glare at him, Nasch’s cheeks red with either blush or anger– Vector was satisfied with either so he didn’t care to try to determine which– as they both tried to catch their breath. 

Yuma shrugged and dropped back into his place, picking up his cards once more and rearranging them, “Kaito and I have been waiting for you two to hate-fuck literally since you met.” he said, placing a face-down card and overlaying two monsters to xyz summon Hope. He launched an attack at Nasch, who was staring at him, with a stupid, dumbstruck expression.

Vector rolled his eyes and reached over, flipping the facedown on Nasch’s field, activating Draw Reset Battle and drawing the final card from his own deck. 

Nasch looked down and glared, “don’t touch my cards!” 

“Listen, i know i’m a good kisser but you were gonna lose the duel because you were daydreaming about it, so shut up and draw.” 

 

Yuma groaned and pulled a card himself. Judging by the look of utter disappointment on his face, it wasn’t a card he’d be able to use this turn. 

He glanced at his own, and found he’d have the same result, the duel was Nasch’s and he couldn’t change it, and it was driven by his own hand.

The game was getting a little too intense, he admitted, head still swimming from Nasch’s body against his, now intimately aware of the proximity of their positioning on the floor. 

He tuned out slightly from the conversation, vaguely registering Yuma losing, and Nasch activating _his_ drawn card to regain life points, and met his eyes when he looked at him. 

“I’m going to sleep,” Yuma said, pushing Nasch softly with his foot, he stood and kissed him once and crawled into the bed. 

He was snoring before even a minute had passed. 

  
Vector rolled his eyes, “imagine being able to fall asleep that easily.”  
“Right? He’s always been like that. When we were younger i’d just have to lie awake for hours while he slept.”

Vector glanced at him, the softness in his eyes as he glanced over Yuma, and laughed softly, “you’re such a loser.” 

Nasch looked at him for a moment, quietly, “I used to think Yuma had magic powers.” his voice had dropped to almost a whisper, and Vector, drunk on kissing and more liquor than they realised, leant in close with eager ears to hear more. 

“Really?” he grinned. 

Nasch nodded, “when we were little and he could make everybody love him, without even… it was just his energy. He’s fucking annoying and says dumb shit all the time, but he feels so good to be around. People loved him so much, _I_ loved him so much, because he’s just something special. When his folks were around it was different, and Yuma got bullied a lot originally, but he figured things out and everyone was just, fucked. I’ve never been able to stop loving him.”

Vector glanced at the sleeping figure in the bed and thought about the times they’d spoken, thought about the way he’d seen Kaito grin when Yuma was pestering him, how even the Alit and the other athletics students who lived across the corridor came out to eagerly greet him whenever he visited. 

Maybe he loved Yuma a little too, he realised, and glanced at Nasch thoughtfully.

“I can see what you mean.” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the Rose Doesn't Edit Their Work Show, featuring our regular Extending The Fic Length Every Time because they keep writing extra scenes. 
> 
> (Whenever this gets finished, there will probably be a sequel featuring The Deleted Scenes™)

Vector woke with an ache in his spine, he pulled his body into an arch in an attempt to crack his back, before collapsing back against the wooden floor.

He lifted his chest with his arms and glanced through hazy eyes at Yuma, asleep in Nasch’s bed, face pressed into the pillow with his mouth open unattractively. Vector quietly hoped he was drooling on it, as he glanced down at Nasch, who was rested on the floor beside him, one arm curled around his own head. He was still shirtless, and Vector could see the offending purpling bruises that had risen on his neck.

He tried not to think about the fact that he’d been the one to lay them there.

He turned his head slowly and squinted at his own, empty bed, then back to where he had been sleeping.

His head had been cushioned by something, and now he saw the offending article, he was silently enraged.

He grabbed it and shoved it beneath his bed, spiteful, then stood with no small measure of pain in his joints as they clicked and groaned awake.

 

He crawled beneath the covers of his own bed and wrapped one arm under his pillow, staring at the wall as the fact of the matter - that he had made out with the most annoying person he knew last night, that he had thought about _fucking_ the most annoying person he knew, last night - dawned on him.

He closed his eyes tightly and prayed to a god he didn't believe in, for sleep to come easily, just this once.

 

——

—

——

 

They didn’t speak the following day.

Vector feigning sleep even when Nasch stood over his bed and shook him by the shoulder, saying he knew he was faking it.

He listened to Nasch kiss Yuma briefly goodbye once he relented, before leaving for the library to study, the door clicking shut behind him.

“Vector?” Yuma asked, almost immediately. Vector continued with his act, drawing in a deep sleepy breath and rolling to snuggle into his bed more, his back to Yuma.

“ _Beeekutaaaaaa.”_ Vector felt the bed depress beside him as Yuma climbed onto it, draping his body over his waist and looking at him.

 

Vector stuck his tongue out at him and blew a raspberry, “what?”

“Are you too embarrassed to talk to Nasch after your super steamy makeout last night?” he teased goodheartedly, and Vector lov- felt a pang of affection for the smile on his face.

He grinned back and sat up, dislodging Yuma, “me? Embarrassed? Pfft,” he stretched and pulled his shirt off, dropping it to the floor and moving to dig through his closet for a clean one, “I just didn’t feel like looking at his stupid face, is all. Is a hangover not enough suffering for one day?”

He didn’t have a hangover. Never really got them, but it was an easy excuse. 

 

“You didn’t seem to mind his face last night!”

Vector pulled on a new shirt and spun to face Yuma, he clasped his hands together with his index fingers pointing directly at him, “one more word about Nasch, I dare you.” He threatened, closing one eye. He raised his ‘gun’ to eye level and aimed for the head.

Yuma paused, eyeing him seriously. Vector assumed he was weighing the decision.

“You have a crush on Nasch, don’t you?”

 _Fuck the gun_ , Vector thought, and just fucking launched himself at Yuma, tackling him onto the bed and pinning him.

“Gross, don’t ever say that again! You’re the one who _dated him_!”

Yuma looked up at him and shrugged, “and I really don’t find him gross. He’s handsome.”

Vector mimed gagging, and let Yuma up, “he’s the most unappealing person I have ever met.”

“Who you made out with last night! Of your own accord!”

“I made out with you too, you’re not accusing me of having a crush on _you!”_

 

Yuma laughed, “well, it’s because that one’s obvious?”

 

Vector froze.

                     Furrowed his brow.

                                                    Parted his lips and tilted his head.

 

_“What?”_

Yuma laughed, not unkindly.

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

Yuma raised his eyebrows at him, giggling, “you can’t think you were subtle about it, surely. Shark told me you've said my name in your sleep a couple times.” He grinned impishly.

Vector pinched the bridge of his nose, stunned and confused. “Yuma, I don’t have feelings for you,” he said, watching as Yuma shrugged, retrieving a chocolate bar from the fridge and unwrapping it, unphased.

“If you say so.”

 

Vector squinted at him, pulling his laptop into his lap and clicking through to a webpage.

It wasn’t even as though Vector was embarrassed, or in denial, he just… hadn’t even thought about it. Wasn't sure he'd ever had a crush before, let alone now.

He wanted Yuma because he made Nasch happy and he wanted to fuck with him, and he wanted Nasch because when you hate someone enough, fucking them was always the second best thing to tearing them apart with your bare hands. 

He assumed.

He had absolutely no interest in dating either of them, and trying to wrap his head around being accused of it, and how strange it felt to be defensive over something that was patently untrue was off-putting.

He opened the messaging app on his computer once he'd finished what he was doing, and sent one to Kaito.

 

V: you home

K: …

V: good point. Is chris there

K: he didn’t stay the night, no.

V: okay I literally didn’t ask about your sex life man

V: anyway im coming over

V: can I eat pizza in your room

V: I ordered you a pepperoni

K: no

K: ….

K: I swear to god if you’re not joking I’m going to have you evicted.

K: You’re already on your way down the hall aren’t you. 

 

Vector let himself into Kaito’s room and smiled toothily in response to the glower he recieved.

He ungracefully flopped across the foot of the bed, and rolled onto his back, letting his head hang over the edge. The blood rushing to his head made it throb kind of painfully and a welcome distraction from the lingering dull ache in his back.

Kaito looked at him over his laptop, entirely unimpressed, “so how was your evening.”

His tone carried such a heavy implication of not wanting an answer that Vector almost believed it, not that he would respect it regardless. He closed his eyes, “I made out with Yuma.” He tried to pass off with an essence of nonchalance.

Kaito scoffed, “burying the lede a bit there.”

Vector opened one eye and looked at him with it, “hm?”

“Yuma, for some reason, found it worthwhile to text me that you were probably going to be ‘getting down’ with Nasch on the floor, and he was going to sleep to give you the privacy to do it. He also sent me like, twenty three discrete emoji about it.”

Vector squinted at the ceiling, “there is nobody in the world who is worse than that boy.”

Kaito made a sound that Vector knew meant he was wrinkling his nose.

“You're right. Nasch is worse, actually. But Yuma is a close second.”

He felt Kaito nudge him with his foot, “glad you and I are on the same page. I’d put you somewhere in between them though.”

Vector lifted his head to look at him properly, and grinned, “oh, you’re so far below Nasch I couldn’t justly include you in the rankings.”

Kaito laughed, and it was as stiff, and abruptly ended as ever, but Vector didn’t miss the way it crinkled the corners of his eyes with sincerity.

Gross, he and Kaito were actually sort of friends.

 

——

—

——

 

The weekend passed slowly, Vector avoiding Nasch and Nasch avoiding Vector.

Vector made a point to _finally_ show Yuma the art studio across campus, where his classes were held, excitedly detailing to him the ways the bones and feathers could be identified, shamelessly flaunting his first major piece of the semester, a resin cast mouse skeleton with a broken neck. He recounted finding the carcass for Yuma, grinning at his attempts to not seem queasy.

The sun had set by the time they returned to the dorm, Vector not _quite_ listening as Yuma explained the three stopovers he’d have to make on the train home the next day. He smiled at him and opened the door, pausing in the doorway as Nasch spun, all venom and frustration, a sweater draped over his shoulder. He was half clothed, wearing just his underwear and a singlet and one sock–

Vector raised an eyebrow, “trying out a new look?” he asked, entering the room with Yuma.

Nasch glowered at him, “I can’t find _any of my fucking clothes._ ”

“That sucks.” He grabbed the half of a burrito from the fridge and set it on a plate, putting it in the microwave.

“It’s your fault.”

He hit start and turned to look at his roommate, bemused, “Is it? I can ruin your life without even being here now? That's  _fantastic._ What did I do?”

Nasch threw the cardigan at him, the arms whipping around Vector’s head a little roughly, “not your fucking laundry, thats what! Maybe if you were even slightly an adult, I wouldn’t lose half my clothes in your mess.”

Vector tossed the cardigan onto his own bed, raising his eyebrows at the fuming Nasch, “laundry is your job? I do the dishes.”

 

“We never agreed on that!”

“It’s worked so far! I thought it was the one thing we actually had some kind of solidarity about!”

Nasch was so leaning fucking close to his face now, Vector had an intensely strong urge to lick him, just to make him angrier. Vector could smell mouthwash and cologne on him, and realised why he was so overwhelmed by the clothes. He bit back a grin, “were you going to surprise Yuma with some fancy dinner date, _Shark_?”

He didn’t expect Yuma’s soft, “vector-” from where he had settled on the bed, nor did he expect the fist that collided with his jaw.

It wouldn’t have been too painful, except for that fucking ring he wore, Vector rubbed his jaw where it had bruised into his tooth, “Ow–”

“Yes! I was going to take Yuma to dinner! Happy?” Nasch snapped, and continued before he could respond, “if I can find a single thing to wear that doesn’t belong to you. And when we get home, you better have fucking done your laundry.”

“You’ve done mine for _months!”_

“Just because you’ve snuck your clothes into mine-”

Vector glared, shoving him, “you’ve never complained! Maybe if you weren’t a coward–”

“–Stop it!”

 

They froze, Nasch’s hand curled around Vector’s arm, ready to force his arms off of his own shoulders, and both looked to Yuma.

“You guys fight like an old married couple–”

“I don’t like him anywhere near enough to have married _him–”_

Yuma waved a hand, “–a couple who married for tax benefits, whatever.” He got up from the bed and went to the corner of the room with Nasch’s desk, grabbing the whiteboard he used to write himself to-do lists. ( _Vector would never marry an arrogant, uptight asshole who keeps a goddamn to-do list.)_

Vector let his arms fall and moved to Yuma, curious, and watched him wipe the board clear, then write both of their names and divide the board in half.

He drew a tiny shark next to Nasch’s name, as he explained.

“You’re going to sort out your problems like kids because you _are_ kids. My dad used to do this for me and Akari. Every time one of you does something bad, like stealing the other’s food, or not washing dishes, or leaving a giant mess–”

Nasch’s elbow met Vector’s ribs sharply.

“–You get a point. If one of you manage to reach ten–” Yuma hesitated at what was no doubt skeptical looks from both of them, “–okay... fif...ty? Then you talk to Kaito about changing rooms, because you’re going to kill each other if you aren’t split up.”

Vector looked at Nasch.

“….okay?” Yuma pressed, resting the board behind the counter of the kitchenette, where it was in plain view of both of their beds.

Nasch nodded, “sounds dumb but sure.”

“I think it’s a _great_ idea, Yuma. A point for every time he pisses me off! Can I punch him whenever it hits a multiple of ten?”

 

Yuma glared at him, “it’s not when he _annoys you_ , Vector. Only actual, life impacting problems.”

“Him being annoying _is_ a life affecting problem. Also it happens? Constantly? Yuma, you have no idea how difficult my life has become, being forced to cohabitate with.. Him.” He shot a look at Nasch, who was staring at him furiously.

“Are you that stupid? Why would Yuma sympathise with you- I’ve known him since kindergarten-”

Yuma shook his head at them, “both of you, cut it out. Are we still going to go out for dinner, Ryouga?”

Vector’s head snapped around to look at Yuma, then back at Nasch, whose eyes had – _gross_ – softened dramatically, and was nodding softly, “I’ll find something to wear while you shower?”

Yuma smiled and nodded back, standing and pressing a chaste kiss to his mouth, he shot a glance between them, “no fighting.” And locked the bathroom door behind him.

 

Nasch had fingers pressed to his lips and a dopey look on his face, and it honestly ached not to taunt him for it. Instead, Vector hesitated, before asking, “Ryouga?”

The look faded slightly, the tenderness in his roommate’s face slipping closer to his usual look of disgruntledness, “long story, and honestly, none of your business.”

Vector shrugged it off, scooping up a handful of his clothes from the floor and taking them to his bed to sort through.

Vaguely aware of Nasch doing something similar, without turning around, he let the quiet settle between them, the sound of running water loud in the otherwise soundless room.

He could only stand almost a minute before breaking it.

“Is Nasch legally yours?”

It was quiet for so long Vector thought he was ignoring him.

“No.”

“Vector isn’t mine.”

“Oh.”

Well, if he wasn’t sharing, then neither was Vector.

He used his foot to push the purple sleeve of a coat further beneath his bed as he continued to separate clothing into ‘to wash’ and ‘passable to wear again,’ working without communicating to Nasch, a dull throb in his jaw where he’d been socked.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, rating has changed.   
> Sexual content inside, also, serious talks? Vector being a dick? ~~Maybe some genuine friendship building? Perish the thought.~~

The whiteboard snapped over Vector’s knee with a crack, he threw the pieces onto the floor.

_Well, that was a short lived plan._

“That was mature.”

Vector turned away from him, “you can’t just give me points for whatever you want! It’s a rigged system. I did nothing wrong, I am being _victimized_ here.”

“I gave you a point because you intentionally spilled your coffee on my textbook!” Nasch protested, “as opposed to, what? What was the last thing you gave me a point for?”

“I don’t know but it was something _deserved_ , unlike me _accidentally_ spilling my coffee, which, by the way, you should replace.” He turned his face away.

“The last point you gave me was for, and I quote,” Nasch started, pulling out his phone and reading from the screen, “looking at you funny.”

“You bared your teeth at me.”

“I _smiled,_ Vector. Because you told a genuinely funny joke for once.”

Vector shrugged, “I don’t remember it like that. I felt my life was in danger.”

“You’re so fucking ridiculous. Gods.” Nasch ran his hands through his hair, and picked up the pieces of the board, putting them on the counter.

 

“We should just, rock paper scissors for chores.” He suggested, sighing, “deal?”

Vector glanced at the board, at the 32 points Nasch had accrued before 12pm. Yuma probably hadn’t even arrived home yet. “Sure. Fine.” He shrugged, “but since you changed the plan, I’m not buying you a new whiteboard.”

Nasch jus glared at him and crouched to pick up the tiny splintered pieces of wood, as Vector climbed onto his bed with his laptop.

“Hey, have you seen my jacket, by the way?”

Vector could hear him scratching at a hickey on his neck and cringed internally, “nope. Maybe some god somewhere decided to abolish that abhorrant thing.”

“Yeah, fuck you too.”

 

––

–

––

 

_102,_ Vector thought, as Nasch threw a dishtowel at him alongside a barked order to dry the dishes. Nasch settled onto his bed again and put his stupid expensive headphones back on.

Just because the board had been eliminated, didn’t mean the point system had to be completely irradicated. Vector was still keeping track.

Thursdays were always the most tense day of the week in their room, and by extension, the building. Both of them had no classes, and so they usually deligated most of the cleaning for it, in an effort to keep out of each other’s way.

However, their new system of bartering and stupid hand games had resulted in the room staying more clean in general, and so they were left with litte to do but share the space and annoy one another.

It had been a long, long day of petty arguments.

Vector rolled his eyes and dropped the dishtowel, “do them yourself.”

_Right, headphones. Noise cancelling._

He repeated himself, louder. Nasch didn’t even react.

Vector frowned, leaning over and picking the towel up, he tossed it at the idiot. Missed.

He groaned.

 

He got out of bed and went to Nasch, leaning in close and shoving the headphones off of his head.

“Dry your own dishes!” He said clearly, trying not to smirk when Nasch flinched.

“Fuck! I heard you the first time, asshole!”

“Then you should have responded!”

Nasch put the headphones beside him and pushed Vector’s chest, “can you stop trying to start a fight with me just because you’re bored? It’s exhausting, grow _up!”_

_“_ I’m not bored, I’m just sick of your stupid face. You’re- okay, maybe I am bored, because you’re the least entertaining person ever!”

Nasch’s headphones hit the ground with a loud clatter as he moved to shove him again, and he swore, twisting at the waist and bending to retrieve them - they were expensive headphones, a fact Nasch regularly spouted when Vector asked to use them, or was caught fore-going asking at all, only to have them snatched from his head - and paused.

Vector watched him, frowning, as Nasch moved onto his hands and knees on the floor, squinting under his bed as if trying to make something out—

_Fuck._

Vector made a leap for the jacket, a desperate attempt to get there first, and failed.

He wound up on his knees beside Nasch, who looked _furious_ , his precious, hideous jacket clutched in his hands.

Vector noticed his nails were painted black, made a mental note to find the polish in his drawers next time Nasch left, and paint his own.

 

“I have been looking for this all week!”

Vector’s mouth made a decision for how to play this before his brain caught up to it, “since we made out? Yeah, that was weird.”

_(What the fuck.)_

Nasch flushed red, and Vector couldn’t be sure if it was driven more by fury or embarrassment, but he’d take that.

“Yeah, that happened. Remember that? How’re your hickies healing?”

“Oh, suck a dick, Vector.”

Vector sneered, “you wish.”

Nasch put the jacket on his bed with so much delicasy that Vector considered throwing it in the fountain outside, and turned to him, “like I would ever want you to. You wouldn’t even be good at it.”

“Hey, fuck you, man. I have great reviews.” _Entirely a lie._

Nasch actually snorted, “as if you’ve had sex.”

Vector rolled his eyes, “well maybe if somebody’s boyfriend hadn’t interrupted–”

His brows drew together, _where the fuck had that come from_.

Nasch looked equally perplexed.

 

They both hesitated. It was weird. Tense.

Vector hated this moment and hated this room and hated Nasch’s stupid hair.

“You’re saying you _want_ to have sex with me?”

_Did he?_

Vector’s mind raced, “fucking is the second best thing to do if you want to tear someone apart with your bare hands.” He said, again, without thinking.

He stared at Nasch, who stared at him, and finally his brain clicked on.

He was in too far now, might as well call his bluff.

Vector’s eyes hardened, “think you could handle it?” he sat up on his knees and leant in slightly, leering.

And it seemed Nasch wasn’t here to play games either, because he smirked, and retaliated with his own taunt, “are you scared?” and Vector couldn’t just stand by, couldn’t just let the accusation hang there, and so he took the next natural step and launched himself directly between the jaws of a shark.

 

They kissed for a long time. Long enough that there grew a rhythm and rhym to the entire affair, Nasch biting down on his lip whenever Vector pulled at his, a hand curled in hair mirrored by nails dug into the flesh at the back of a neck.

The more familiar the motions of it all became, the more acutely Vector became aware that the difference between this time and the last, was the lack of alcohol burning on their breath, the lack of fuzz in his brain, and the knowledge that they were alone in _their_ room.

He grunted softly when teeth assulted his tongue and tugged away sharply, “there are two _perfectly good beds_ in this room–” he could taste his own blood.

Nasch rolled his eyes and moved onto his own.

Vector followed suit, figured he’d have time to reflect on that decision later. He clumsily moved over Nasch and kissed him once more, shifting alongside him until he was crouching atop a prone Nasch.

Their bodies were moving together now, and this was somewhat familiar too, though more imposing upon a sober mind. Nasch’s hands gripped the backs of his thighs, hiking up his legs.

He moved as he was being led, shuffling forward without breaking the kiss. He gasped at the pleasant brush of Nasch’s length against his own, suddenly grateful for laundry day now being a collaborate effort, both of them wearing loose shorts made the experience easier.

 

The hands tucked around his thighs were shifting upward, thumbs digging into the tendons of his legs, fingers brushing at pieces of him that made him shiver, memories of hearing Nasch with Yuma surfaced in his mind, soft moans and shifting bedsprings.

A selfconsciousness he didn’t know he had clawed its way up his throat, and Vector pulled away from Nasch to gasp in air. He sat up, felt the hands slip slightly back down his legs–something respectful in the action. He was grateful for it–and looked down at him, breathing heavily. Their chests rose and fell with vigor.

Nasch’s lips, pink and swollen from the barrage of assault that came from their somewhat appropriative attempt at making out, pressed together, a concern preparing to be voiced, Vector cut him off.

“If you talk, I’m not going to blow you.”

And that shut him up.

He rolled his eyes with a wide grin that settled into a smirk when Nasch forgot to bite back his own smile. He stuck his tongue out between his teeth and lightly smacked a hand against Nasch’s ribs, “i’m not gonna embarrass myself trying to undress you,” he said, and sat back on his haunches, stripping himself of his shirt, he glanced down appreciatively as Nasch followed suit, hastily shoving his shorts down his legs.

He lifted himself up so they could be kicked off, then, because his instinct was telling him not to, he looked directly and boldly at Nasch’s dick.

His brain provided the word _nice_ , but that would be a stupid thing to say.

He settled for crawling over him again, kissing him once more, if just for an excuse lick along Nasch’s teeth before sucking and kissing his way down his throat.

 

He wasn’t _afraid_ to suck a dick, per se, but he was accutely aware of fucking _experienced_ Nasch was, with his stupid long term relationship.

He at least could hold out hope that Yuma probably wasn’t great at it, and in theory, he’d watched enough porn to understand the process.

He nipped sharply into Nasch’s hipbone for good measure before dragging his tongue along the length and wrapping his lips around it.

He closed his eyes, and immediately opened them once more as he moved on him, and _fuck,_ there sure was something to be said for the way moans and gasps sounded when drawn out by your own work.

Both of Nasch’s hands twisted through his hair, and when he _didn’t_ tug on it, Vector quickly realised that _yep, he was definitely into that_ , and pulled off just long enough to demand he do just that, before returning to the dick in question.

 

The burn at his scalp halted, then seared with a sharp, extended tug, when Nasch gasped as Vector shifted so that he could drag his tongue across the tip of it. It didn’t take long to put it together before Nasch was composed enough to warn him.

He used one hand to stroke Nasch through his orgasm, and swallowed his cum. He used a hand to support his chest and, just to be lewd, and because he saw the faded look in Nasch’s wide eyes, he locked contact with him and licked him clean.

He swallowed again and looked at Nasch – hated that he was searching for some kind of validation there – and grinned when Nasch, brow slightly furrowed despite his pink-cheeks and heavy breathing, used a hand to shove Vector onto his back.

There wasn’t much to be said for the accomodations of a king single bed, but Nasch made do while Vector squirmed up the bed so that he could prop himself up with pillows, watching Nasch kneel so that he was straddling one of his legs.

Nasch reached into his shorts and jerked Vector off, and Vector closed his eyes and let him.

He told himself to imagine Yuma instead, but found it futile to argue against the facts, that Nasch was holding his dick and he was into it, and he was into the fact that _Nasch_ was the one doing it.

He came on Nasch’s hand and with hazy, post orgasm mind, he shifted forward and tried to grab Nasch to kiss him some more, and was met with a firm hand to the cheek, shoving him back onto the bed.

 

Nasch’s face was red. He wiped his hand on Vector’s hip and scrambled to his feet, tugging clothes on and leaving the room in a fuss.

Vector sat up as the door closed, wiping his mouth with the back of a hand, “okay then.” He said mostly to himself.

There _was_ something to be said for being curled in the purple sheets he’d been furious with for so long, and Vector saw no reason not to claim residency here for a brief time, especially as Nasch had stormed out.

He tucked himself away and pulled the blankets over himself, wriggling into the bed, he fell into sleep easier than most nights.

 

_––_

_–_

_––_

 

Things got… easier, from then.

Vector wondered if maybe this was how it was for regular roommates, minor annoyances and barely aknowledging each other.

Aside from needling Nasch when he felt things were getting _too_ comfortable between them, they were mostly civil.

They exchanged phone numbers finally, which, Kaito pointed out, they should have done on the first day.

They both agreed that the hall parties each weekend were incrdibly uninteresting and stupid, and upon realising that Kaito’s room was separated from the main lobby by the lounge area, the armistice they had silently declared extended to include forcing themselves into Kaito’s space.

Nasch and Kaito got along possibly _less_ than Vector and Nasch, but since the relationship between each was faint disdain tinged with a shared preference for seclusion, they passed the time dueling.

Vector greatly enjoyed hearing secondhand accounts of how awful the Arclights were to grow up with, confirmed by Kaito that nothing had changed.

Something of a kinship grew there.

It helped Vector remove himself further from the intimacy of being alone with either of them, and the ease of conversation came as a welcome change, even if he had no idea how to understand it.

When it became too close to something genuine, Vector made a point to bring up making out with Nasch, to irritate him into a subject change.

 

_––_

_–_

_––_

 

_Thunder cracked in the distance. His Father was yelling, and his Mom was saying something he couldn’t hear, her voice anxious and alarmed._

_There was a loud sound, and Vector knew by the lightning that it can’t have been thunder again. He’d learned in class that thunder only happened because of lightning, and there hadn’t been a flash in between._

_He curled up close to the tiny record player on the floor, twisting the volume knob as low as it could be without being off, and tried to lose himself in the music._

 

––

–

––

 

He’d tried to hide from Nasch how shaken he was by the storm, snow piled outside. The announcement that classes were cancelled had been broadcast the evening before, warnings everywhere that the storm was bad, and everyone had to stay inside.

Vector had seen hell, and this was it.

He’d tried to go to Kaito’s room, knew he could rely on him not to ask stupid questions, plus he had blackout curtains, but his legs wouldn’t work, buckling at the knee as he approached the door.

Nasch had walked him on shaky legs back towards their beds, wrapped a blanket around him and made them both hot chocolate.

He pulled a pack of playing cards from his bedside table, and dropped them between them, “lets play snap.”

“Snap?”

“Yeah.”

Vector eyed him, shifting the blanket around his shoulders tighter as thunder rumbled distantly, “why not duel monsters? Afraid we’ll bang if we play again?”

Nasch just looked at him for a moment, then sighed, “can we declare armistice? You’re obviously terrified of storms and I’m trying to distract you. I figure snap is easy and kind of mindless, and a change since we both duel pretty regularly. I won’t tell anyone outside this room that you _weren’t an asshole for one night_ , if you’re concerned about your reputation.”

Vector sized him up then nodded slowly, picking up his cards and surveying them.

“Why don’t you go by your legal name?”

He raised his head in surprise, and saw Nasch’s head bowed to his cards, they began to play. He chewed at the inside of his cheek.

“I’m a Junior. As in, firstname lastname The Second. My dad’s a dick, I didn’t want to carry him around with me all the time.” He shrugged, “i’ll change it legally if I can ever think of something more clever than literally making my surname ‘surname.’” Vector responded, watching Nasch carefully as they took turns placing cards down.

Nasch nodded, “that’s understandable. My sister and I renamed ourselves when our parents died.”

Vector hesitated when Nasch paused. He was sure he was supposed to be offering sympathy, maybe? But who was he to assume he should be sorry. For all he knew, Nasch’s father was as much of a dick as his own. “Oh?” he pressed, placing a card and calling snap, drawing the pile in and adding it to his hand.

Nasch shot him a small grin and started again, “yeah. They were in a car accident, and when we went to the orphanage, we were old enough that everyone… knew. Our parents were pretty wealthy, you know? It was in the papers. Ryouga and Rio Kamishiro, orphaned, the twin heirs to the Kamishiro fortune. Dad was in politics. He was a good man, but he had enemies, and some of the other kid’s parents didn’t like him, and it kind of carried through to us.” He said, the game slowing, “I spoke to the family lawyer and we changed schools, and enrolled under new names. We considered our middle names but it was still too risky, so Rio and I stayed up all night talking about names until we picked them. Mine stuck, Rio eventually went back to her original one, she mostly picked Merag to match me.”

Vector put his cards down, “Nasch, like, benetnasch, right?”

 

Nasch nodded, “I really liked astrology as a kid, dad bought me a telescope and we used to watch the stars. I could map most of the bigger constellations blindfolded. Dad told me this story once, about how hunters and soldiers wouldn’t dare to point their weapons at benetnasch, because it was unlucky. I liked that. When I picked it, I liked the idea of being someone tough enough to be _unlucky_ to have to fight.”

Vector grinned, “kinda dorky, _slightly_ cool. I think you picked well, to be honest.” He glanced at Nasch’s desk, “that would explain your major, then.”

Nasch nodded again, “physics, majoring in star structure and evolution. Yeah. Why did you pick a star from the same constellation? Have you been stalking me or something?” he teased lightly. Vector paused to wonder when teasing like this had become acceptable between them.

“Ever played Devil Survivor 2?”

Nasch hesitated, then nodded slowly, “sure. The Septrentriones?”

Vector nodded.

“Why?”

“Phecda’s invulnerable.” He said, and immediately hated the bitter taste of the honest words on his tongue.

Nasch eyed him slowly, “except it gets torn in two and is immediatey open for attack… and that damage remains when it reforms.”

Vector felt his lips tug upwards into a smile, a bittersweet feeling in his chest, “ha, I guess you’re right.”

The silence hung between them weightily for a few moments, as Vector begun to add cards to the pile once more.

 

“It’s kind of cool that our names go together.”

Vector looked at him, “that thing you just said? Pretty gay.”

Nasch shrugged, defensive, “it’s true.” He muttered.

Vector only let himself smile once Nasch looked away, “dork.”

The game continued, and Vector asked, “so who gets to call you what name? What do you prefer?”

“Yuma calls me Shark because I liked them when I was little and he’s sentimental. Rio calls me Ryouga, and nobody but the two of them and, unfortunately, the Arclights, know that name.”

He laughed, “the Arclights know?”

Nasch nodded, “same reason I know Yuma, our fathers worked together. Technically I should have known Kaito, too, but our parents didn’t get along.”

Vector nodded, “makes sense.”

“Will you tell me your legal name? I’ll probably find out eventually even if you don’t.”

Vector shrugged, “yeah. I don’t really give a shit. Shingetsu Rei.”

“Shingetsu,”

He nodded, and hit snap, collecting the cards again. He suspected Nasch was letting him win.

“How much do you hate being called your real name?” Nasch asked him, pulling his hoodie closed and zipping it. Vector wished this building had heating.

“It’s fine. Mostly hated it because of how proud the old man was about it, you know? Talking about how his name would be passed down through the generations.” He smiled vaguely, “sucks for his ass, because kids aren’t gonna happen from me.”

Nasch raised his eyebrows at him.

 

Vector put his cards down, “actually, that reminds me- can I talk to you about something kinda… serious? Don’t be an ass about it?”

Nasch nodded, “sure…”

He seemed slightly suspicious, and Vector did his best not to play into the act _too_ hard, not to let Rei Shingetsu, _no sir, I didn’t tell Mizael that there was a dragon in the cave so he would wander in and get lost and afraid! It was just a fun story, is he okay? I’ve been so worried_ , sneak through. Nasch would see right through his faux innocence.

“Okay, but for real. Like, I would never take your advice on fucking anything, but, I need it on this and, gross as it is to admit, you’re the… best confidant I have.”

Nasch was eyeing him, “okay. What?”

Vector scratched at his hairline, toying with the cards in his hand, and avoiding Nasch’s eyes, “i’ve uh, I’ve been having some- thoughts-” he cleared his throat, “thinking about stuff. And I think I might…. Uh, fuck.” He sighed.

“You think you might, what.”

Vector risked a glance at him, and saw that he was finally taking this semi-seriously. His face was neutral, observing and waiting, probably trying not to leap to some conclusion, “I think I might? Maybe not be… straight?” he paused briefly, then continued, “I hope you don’t think of me differently, I- I’m not quite sure how to come to terms with this.”

Vector felt like he was going to break all of his ribs trying not to laugh at himself.

He met Nasch’s eyes, the grin creeping up on his own lips, as Nasch clenched and unclenched his fists, “I fucking hate you. Go away.”

He pouted exaggeratedly, “this is homophobia.”

Nasch stood up so suddenly and agressively that it made Vector jump, and he laughed, watching Nasch pull his shoes onto his feet and _leave the room, fuming._

He leapt to his own feet and watched him walk down the hall, “I can’t believe you’re a fucking homophobe, Nasch!” he yelled after him down the hall, cackling when Nasch flipped him off without looking back at him.

 

Vector shut the door and left it unlocked this time, excessively pleased with himself.

He retrieved his hot chocolate and crawled beneath his blanket, playing with his phone a little and waiting for Nasch to come back.

He only had to endure a few thunderclaps and lightning flashes before he returned, and Vector felt gratitude flood into him when he saw him.

“Shut up.” Nasch muttered, and grabbed the remnants of a bottle of vodka they had topped with orange juice, as well as his own blanket. He looked at Vector, shaking ghost-fingers clutching the bedsheets while his face feigned casualness.

Vector blinked at him, and stayed quietly, shifting in the bed as Nasch climbed in beside him, their bodies pressed together at the side, passing the bottle to him for the first drink.

He hated how much he didn’t mind Nasch’s prescence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to your regularly scheduled bullshit next chapter, I promise.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, decided to split this one into two parts.

N: Are you home?

V: why

N: I’m in a rush and dying to pee and I forgot my keys

V: ….go in a bush??????

N: Shut th eufck up

 

Vector smiled at his phone, “well, that isn’t very nice.” He got up and locked the door before returning to stretch across Nasch’s bed.

He rested his feet on the wall and waited, playing games on his phone.

The sound of the door handle failing to turn and then a loud thud as, presumably, Nasch banged his head against it out of frustration gave him a cheek splitting grin.

“ _Vector_.”

“Yes?” he called politely.

“I’m going to fucking strange you, let me in!”

Vector laughed, “well, when you threaten me like that, of course.” He stood and padded silently to the door, making no move to open it.

He could hear Nasch taking slow breaths to try to calm himself, before a strained, but far more polite tone tried again, “please let me in so I can use the bathroom, Vector.”

Vector rested his arm against the door and made a sound of consideration, “Mm- I don’t know… I’m afraid for my safety after you threatened to attack me.”

“I’ll give you my ipad. Like, to keep.”

Vector’s smile dropped, hand going to the doorknob, “wait, for real?”

“Yes. I swear.”

He unlocked the door and stepped out of the way.

 

Nasch rushed into the bathroom, as Vector picked up Nasch’s iPad. It was the newest model, because Nasch was stupid and rich, and Vector only had an eight year old, virus ridden computer, and an out-of-date model of phone.

“Let me reset it later.” Nasch called from the bathroom, “then it’s yours.”

Vector shrugged, “okay. Sounds good.” He put it back down and sat on Nasch’s bed, “where ya rushing off to without your keys? You didn’t come home last night.”

Nasch washed his hands and left the bathroom, stripping to his underwear and going to his closet. “I stayed… with a friend.”

Vector tilted his head, “well, that doesn’t track, because your only friends are Yuma, your sister, and if you want to stretch the imagination, Kaito and me.”

Nasch changed into clean clothes, “I _have_ other friends.”

“No, you don’t! Who? Name them!”

Nasch was firmly facing away from him, “Durbe. Thomas.”

Vector squinted, “Thomas?” he’d heard of Durbe, another of Nasch’s friends from back home, but Thomas was a name that only rang some distant bell. He was sure he’d heard of a Thomas in passing but couldn’t place it. Nasch had said it with such reluctance that Vector burned with curiosity.

“You don’t know him. I have class.” Nasch said, grabbing his laptop bag and wallet, he turned to leave the room and Vector saw his red cheeks.

He smirked, “get laid last night?”

“ _I have to get to class.”_ Nasch said insistently, leaving the room before Vector could respond.

Vector followed him to the doorframe and watched him leave in a huff.

He walked down the hallway and let himself into Kaito’s room, once Nasch had left the building.

 

He was surrounded by textbooks, a palm holding one open to a set of pages, whilethe other paged through a different book, his laptop open and glaring blue light onto his face.

“It’s exam season, Vector, please-”

“I wont be here long! I just wanted to see if you knew who someone is.”

Kaito looked up, his eyes withering.

Vector drew a cross over his heart, “Nasch fucked someone and I want to know who because he wouldn’t tell me–”

“You care an awful lot about the sex life of a dude you apparently abhor having slept with.”

“We never had sex!” He protested, “anyway– Nasch said his name was Thomas, and you know _everyone_ here–”

He paused, watching as Kaito’s lips pressed together and he turned his face away.

He frowned, “What is _that_ reaction? You know him?”

Kaito cleared his throat, “no. I don’t know anyone by that name. Ask Nasch again if you really _need_ to know. I have to study now.”

Vector rolled his eyes, “you’re the smartest person I have ever met, you don’t need to study. I don’t know why you waste your time.”

Kaito turned his head back down to his books, “not all of us can simultaneously hold the universities worst attendance rate and be consistently getting 98% on every assessment.”

“You could be if you just gave it a try.” Vector shrugged, “but whatever. Hit me up if you want help I guess?” He paused at his own words, “that was weird. Forget I said that. Bye. Good luck or whatever.” He quickly left the room, mind still dwelling on who Thomas was.

 

–––

 

N: can you please not discuss my personal life with other people??

V: so you’re confirming you did fuck this illustrous Thomas?

N: why do you even care? Are you jealous?

_ ✓ Seen at 11.32am _

 

––

 

Things had become relatively more peaceful in their dorm as the first few months of term passed. More often than not, they forgot to fight. 

Nasch still drove Vector up a wall, but it was easier, their home no longer a constant battleground.

Vector sat perched on Nasch’s bed, reading through an eassy he’d just finished, while Nasch played video games on the floor between the two beds. 

Nasch was good at what he did, and Vector’s curiosity had been annoying avoidant, eventually Nasch just shoving his laptop at him and telling him he could read it. 

Vector had thought seriously about deleting the file entirely just to spite him, but figured Nasch would have backed it up in multiple places and he couldn’t be bothered finding them all to justify the effort.

 

He glanced up at an alarming sound from the console in Nasch’s hands, twising around wildly to view the screen and landing with his chin on his shoulder, “are you _trying_ to lose?? You have an awful team!” 

Nasch tried to shrug him off, “fuck off, I have a strategy–”

Vector made a grab for the console, his body falling from the bed, he stretched for it as Nasch twisted away, attempting to hold it out of his reach.

“Stop–”

“Just let me–”

“NO!” 

Vector licked Nasch’s face in an attempt to distract him before lunging for the console. Nasch groaned beneath him, grabbing him by the hair with one hand and bending the other further away. 

Vector was entirely on top of him, scrambling to climb his body and snatch the console, stupidly intent on his goal, when his hair was twisted, yanking his head down, and suddenly, abruptly, Nasch was kissing him.

 

He didn’t intend to kiss back, but somehow he was, and his focus shifted momentarily–

Nasch pulled away from his mouth and onto the bed, the console cradled in his hands. 

Vector glared at him, “what the fuck.” 

Nasch shrugged.

“That was a fucking dirty trick.” 

“You’re the biggest cheat I’ve ever met, I took a page out of your book. Let me play the game how I want.” 

Vector glared, grabbing Nasch’s laptop and retreating to his own bed. 

 

His ego wounded only slightly, he changed Nasch’s background out of spite, and messaged Yuma. 

N: I dont know how to live without you </3

Y: Hi Vector! Did you steal Shark’s computer?

N: you’re even less fun than he is.

He glanced through his recent messages, nobody all that suspicious– and nobody named Thomas. 

He hit the search bar and typed in the name. 

 

**30.6**

**10pm**

**N:** **thomas you left your stupid personalised helmet on my bike, im not stupid, and no you can’t ride it.**

**IV: ** **Ryoga pls**

**N: ** **No. It’s always gonna be a no.**

 

Vector frowned at the screen, thinking.

“What are you doing over there.” Nasch said, voice dripping with suspicion. 

He’d seen IV around more than usual. Leaving their dorm, sitting on the hood of V’s obnoxious hummer while waiting for him, flyers for his upcoming duel stacked on the living room table. 

“Is IV’s real name Thomas?” 

 

The silence was telling, and Vector looked up, catching the dread on Nasch’s face. 

He grinned. “Did you–”

“He wants me to be in his stupid frat.” 

He paused, “what?” 

“He’s trying to _start a frat_ , which is stupid, because at the moment its just his brothers and V thinks its stupid and III is still in high school, but they have their huge ass house right near campus and he wants me to join.” 

Vector raised an eyebrow, “do you _want_ to be in his frat?” 

Nasch hesitated, “…maybe?” 

“What does that mean?” 

Nasch only shrugged. Vector narrowed his eyes. 

“Oh my god, do you _like him?_ Do you have a crush on IV?” 

He recieved a glare like daggers, and realised he was on the wrong track. 

He remembered his initial theory, “Oh.” 

Nasch frowned.

 

“You fucked him.” He said, voice filled with glee. 

The resulting silence was telling, and Vector exploded into laughter, “holy shit, that’s fucking _hilarious_. You slept with Thomas Arclight. Holy shit.” 

Nasch launched his DS across the room and hit him in the head with it, “shut up! It’s no worse than you!” 

Vector stopped laughing, rubbing his head, an easier chuckle now, “listen, Nasch, you and I like to have fun and give each other shit but we both know I am _definitely_ a step above IV.” 

Nasch put his head in his hands and sighed, defeated, “I literally hate to admit it, but you _are_ right.” 

“So what’s the deal with the frat then?” 

“He’s hazing me? Which is weird because it somehow ended with us having sex. And also I… don’t care about the frat. And he’s not even good at hazing me.” 

Vector rolled his eyes, “amateurs.” 

Nasch eyed him suspiciously, “please don’t bring up that we had sex around him, I’ll never hear the end of it.” 

“That you and I almost boned or that you and he actually did?” 

“…yes.” 

Vector laughed and passed him back his laptop, “I can make no promises.” 

“Should have guessed.” Nasch sighed. 

 

––

–

––

 

“Why do you like, exclusively paint or sculpt based on dead animals?” 

“Things are better company when they’re dead– you could take that as a hint.” 

Nasch made a sound that Vector knew was meant to portray an eye roll.

Neither of them could sleep, and so they were talking. Things shared in the dark in tones too gentle for the light. Half-conscious conversation.

Vector wondered if this was how it felt for Nasch when he shared a room with his sister, or how kids felt having sleepovers with friends. 

There was something sacred and trusting to sharing this time. 

He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, “we should put those dumb glow in the dark stars up there.” 

Nasch paused before responding, “in the shape of the big dipper?” 

Vector chewed at his bottom lip, “yeah. I mean– It makes sense, right?” He just wasn’t all that fond of how dark their room got at night.

“Absolutely.” 

He turned his head to look across at him. 

 

Nasch was looking straight up as he had been, his hands crossed on his chest. 

The door handle shifting caught both of their attention, two bodies sitting up suspiciously, the magic in the air broken. 

Laser focused as it twisted, Vector looked at Nasch, “wouldn’t be Kaito.” He whispered.

Nasch held up his hands in response, the index of his right, and the middle and index of his left. 

Vector raised his eyebrows and put a finger to his lips, going to the door and opening it slightly, sticking his head into the hallway. 

 

IV and III stood before him, the latter with wide eyes, shrinking into his brother’s side. 

“What are you doing?” Vector whispered.

“We’re here to prank Nasch. For–”

“Frat stuff?” 

III nodded meekly.

Vector grinned, “he’s still awake. Give me your number and I’ll text you once he goes to sleep.” 

IV’s face split into the widest shit eating grin Vector had ever seen. He keyed his number into Vector’s offered phone, winking conspirationally as the two of them walked back down the hallway quietly. 

They were wearing all black, carrying a bag filled with what looked to be an aeresol cans. Vector rolled his eyes. 

He looked back at Nasch as he shut and locked the door, “you were right. I told them you’re out tonight.” 

Nasch nodded, “thanks. He’s exhausting.” 

“Yeah, he roped his younger brother into it too.” 

“Ugh.” 

Vector climbed back into his own bed and texted IV. 

 

V: what was the plan

T: pick the lock, put whipped cream in his hand and on his head and stuff. 

V: my dude, that is _so_ lame. 

T: You seem to be suggesting you have a better idea. 

V: Fuck yeah I do. Can you climb in the window when I tell you to come back? 

T: absolutely.

Vector texted him a list of supplies, and talked quietly to Nasch until he fell asleep, trying to hide his glee at teaming up with someone to fuck with him. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Anyway](https://78.media.tumblr.com/fb1105a41a4c01a360c1f9788b1841eb/tumblr_p6yplom3DW1x8l5uzo1_540.png) this fic became longer than initially intended. 
> 
> I split these final ones because it worked better, so.

“ _Feathers_? _This is the best you can do? Really?”_

Vector laughed into his phone, “i’m on my way back to the room, hold on.” He hung up before Nasch could say no, and cheerily entered their dorm. He’d much rather be yelled at in person.

He burst into eruptous laughter upon the sight, feathers scattered across Nasch’s bed.

He took a photo just to spite him.

“You spend a week working with iv to torment me every day, and you end it by cutting open my pillow? Honestly, anti-climatic and I expected more from you.”

Vector grinned, dropping his backpack onto his bed and putting his drink into the fridge. He sat on the counter, swinging his leds idly and smiling, “I just thought it was fitting for a coward like yourself. Chicken.”

Nasch looked incredibly enervated, “Down is made from goose feathers.”

“Only you would be so needlessly pedantic in this situation.”

“I’m just– Is this it?? Are we done? I can _buy a new pillow_ and it’s not a big deal.”

Vector shrugged, “it’s still going to be mildly irritating _tonight_.”

“I could just sleep in your bed.”

“Assuming I would let you, and I won’t.”

Nasch rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone, which was buzzing.

He answered and set it to speakerphone.

 

“Ryouga! Is Vector with you?”

Nasch grunted in response.

“Brilliant. Congratulations to you both!”

Vector blinked, smile falling from his face as Nasch’s slowly grew.

“You’re both in. Come tonight for your initiation.”

Vector snatched the phone from Nasch, “iv, I wasn’t the one being hazed. I don’t want to be in your cult.”

iv sounded _incredibly_ patronising, “it’s a fraternity, Vector. Everyone wants to be in one. And you paid your dues by assisting in hazing your brother.”

“Fuck. No. We aren’t calling each other that.”

“We also aren’t coming over. Fuck off, iv.” Nasch reached for the phone, hitting the end call button and smirking at Vector.

“Guess you’re stuck with him now too.”

Vector immediately sneered at him, “I have the comfort of knowing I’ve never had any part of him inside me though, so I’m still the winner.”

Even Nasch couldn’t argue with that logic.

The phone buzzed in his hand, and Vector took it when he saw the hint of red creeping into Nasch’s face.

 

**iv:** _The two of you make plans together in such a distinctly_

_~couple~ way for people who apparently despise_

_each other. (_ っ _•́_ ｡ _•́)_ ♪♬

 

“He’s trying to irritate us into giving him attention.”

“Which we aren’t going to do.”

Vector nodded, then stopped. “Don’t say _we._ ”

“Hm.” 

Vector climbed down from the counter and looked at the feathers on the bed. 

He felt his phone vibrate– repeatedly. He wasn’t going to indulge iv right now.

He pulled the iPad Nasch had given him into his lap and used it to check social media– there wasn’t much he was interested in. 

He thought about visiting Kaito, but knew he’d just get kicked out or ignored, because Kaito was working hard to impress his dad or something. 

He sent a message his way anyway. 

 

**V:** Don’t cry to me if you ruin your eyes staring at a computer screen all day.

**V:** Or if your muscles atrophy because you haven’t moved in like a week. 

**V:** Or if you starve to death

The … of Kaito's typing pops up while he types a reply. Vector grins and deletes the start of his next message.

**K:** If you want an excuse to get out of boredom/Nasch’s company you’ll have to be more direct.

**V:** Who says im bored

**K:** You’re texting me.

**V:** iv said Nasch and I are like a couple. 

**K:** You are. Wanna get coffee? 

**V:** Don’t cry to me if you pass out from sleep deprivation. 

 

He locked the iPad and glanced at Nasch, who was pointedly _not_ cleaning feathers. He was still wearing just the boxers he slept in.

“It’s 3pm, put some clothes on.” He muttered, just to have _something_ to have complained about, and left the room. 

 

–––

 

Vector sat opposite Kaito in the cafe, putting his feet up on the seat beside him.

“Since you want to know but wont ask, studying is going fine. I have one final left and I’m feeling confident about all of the others. My father should be pleased.”

Vector was deeply uncomfortable with being read so easily, he nodded and attempted to seem aloof, sipping at his coffee, “that’s– good–” 

Kaito had bags under his eyes. He looked more tired than usual. 

If Vector cared, he would ask when he last slept.

(He didn’t. He also didn’t need to ask to know that it’d probably been two days.) 

“So, iv has decided I’m in his stupid frat too. I never once expressed an interest. He just assumes I am dying to spend _more_ time in his prescence.”

Kaito looked amused, “he’s like that.”

“He’s objectively the worst person I have ever met. How is somebody worse than Nasch.”

“At this point I don’t think comparison that says a lot.”

Vector looked at him and narrowed his eyes, “care to elaborate?” 

They held eye contact for a long moment, Vector daring him to say it, Kaito probably trying to decide if it was worth it. 

Eventually, Kaito picked up his own coffee and drank from it, “nothing, Vector. You have impeccable taste and would never be attracted even slightly to someone like Nasch.” 

“Bold words from a man who regularly sleeps with V.” 

He smirked when Kaito choked. 

 

–––

 

He didn’t miss Kaito’s lips curling into a smirk when he bought a takeaway coffee with one sugar as they left. 

He chose not to comment on it, pretending to drink from the cup as they walked back to campus. 

“That’s Nasch’s order, right.” 

He scowled, “he asked me to get him one.” He lied.

“You agreed? Wow, this is more serious than I thought.”

Vector flipped him off and shoved his free hand into his pocket, “fuck off, Kaito.” 

 

–––

 

If asked how he ended up sprawled across an opulant couch in Arclight Manor, Vector couldn’t have answered, still unsure of the events that led him here.

He sipped at his drink and watched Nasch and iv duel on the floor. 

Nasch was winning, significantly, and he had one hell of a hand.

Vector sighed and flopped over the edge of the couch, “if you were just desperate for someone to duel, you could have just asked us.” 

“There’s that plural pronoun again.” 

Vector and Nasch shot glares at each other before turning them on iv, who laughed at them, “you two–”

“Shut up.” Nasch muttered, and flipped a trap card, essentially winning him the duel. He placed his cards down and looked at Vector. 

Vector raised his chin, “what?” 

“You piss me off _so much._ ”

“Normally, I’d welcome this, but I have done _nothing_.” 

Nasch gritted his teeth, “I just wish I could strangle you sometimes.” 

“Ditto.” He stood and stretched, “could at least make it fun when you do.” 

He laughed as Nasch wrapped an arm around his legs to knock him to the ground.

(It wasn’t exactly unexpected, but he let it happen for the reward of getting to kick Nasch in the face.) 

 

“Are you two ever going to just have sex and get it over with?” 

They looked up at iv together, Nasch halfway through climbing over Vector to (presumably) make good on his earlier threat. 

Vector sat up and Nasch scrambled off him, righting his clothing, “with him? Never.” 

Hating to agree with him, Vector affirmed this. 

iv grinned at them both, “if you say so.” 

Vector was pretty tired of being around him, if he was to be perfectly honest. 

Having to share the pleasures of inflicting irritation onto Nasch was kind of anticlimatic, took some of the fun out of it. 

They’d realised rather quickly that iv had little to no understanding of how to run a fratenity– and essentially it was an excuse to have them over and share some drinks and duel every few days. 

Nasch had said it was a good way for them to get out of their tiny dorm– Vector hadn’t been sold until he’d taken a shower at the Arclight’s and almost fallen asleep because the water pressure was so good. 

He was sure Nasch hadn’t been lying when he’d said iv didn’t know about the blowjob, and yet he was tired of the constant comments about them hooking up– it was only funny when he did it, because it was always a tossup between whether Nasch would get embarrassed or angry. With iv, Nasch was always angry.

“I’m going to go home. I’m sick of the pair of you.” 

Nasch rolled his eyes, shooting him an absolutely icey glare that screamed, _don’t leave me with him, bastard._

Vector almost blew a kiss at him, but iv was there.

 

“Okay. I mean, that’s completely fine, but I had _a mission_ for you.” 

Vector was pulling his jacket on, “did you.” 

iv nodded enthusiastically, then turned to look at his brother, who was watching tv from the other couch, “piss off, Michael.” 

iii looked at him with an expression that could not more clearly convey the mood of ‘eat a dick, Thomas’ and got up, “I was watching tv.” He said grumpily as he left the room.

iv rolled his eyes and turned back to them, “so, i’ve been thinking about Kaito’s shitty tights.” 

_Oh, fuck_ , okay, Vector was listening. He watched iv and Nasch stand, iv pacing with the air of dramatism he always carried, gesturing as he spoke.

“I thought it might be fun to engage in some larceny, to save Kaito from being an embarrassment to himself.” 

Vector laughed, “holy shit, that’s a fucking _incredible_ thought.” 

iv nodded, beaming at what he clearly took as a deeply personal compliment – god, he was an idiot – and laced his fingers together, pressing the tips of his index fingers to his lips and then pointing it at them, “this is your first task as new pledges. Retrieve the tights and bring them to me.” 

Vector could not have cared less about the stupid frat but _god_ , he would love an excuse to mess with Kaito. 

He shared a glance with Nasch, and they both agreed. 

“You have three days.” 

They left together, Nasch shuffling his deck before slipping it into his deckbox.

Vector hadn’t stolen from Kaito in almost two months, he assumed Kaito hadn’t noticed his latest, despite the admitted boldness of the thing. 

(He considered himself lucky Kaito had only ever entered their room for the purpose of inspections, because he would definitely notice the dragon figure he had handpainted that now resided on Shark’s desk if he were to visit. At least he could try to pin it on Nasch if he ever _was_ caught.)


	8. Chapter 8

“So, do you want to seduce him, or should I?” 

Vector stared at Nasch, dumbstruck.

He didn’t say a word, instead opting to sit in silence and blink at him.

Nasch’s face grew slightly more red. 

Vector opened his mouth to speak. 

Closed it again.

He shook his head, dragged his hands down his face, rested his tented hands on his forehead.

“Why… on _earth_ would you–”

“We need to get his pants _off_ to be able to steal them– I thought–” Nasch was getting flustered and that in itself was almost as entertaining as suggesting one of them fuck Kaito for this plan, “it makes sense! I’ll do it, if you’re going to be a coward about it.” 

Vector raised an eyebrow at him, smiling incredulously, “have you always wanted to fuck him? How am I just learning this now? God, Nasch–” 

“I don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Want to sleep with him.” Nasch said, through gritted teeth with red cheeks. 

“Oh, you should have just said, I can totally hook you up.”

“You’re such an ass.” 

Vector winked at him, ducking as Nasch swung for his head.

 

 

“Anyway– Since you’ve obviously never watched a heist movie– seducing him should be plan b. And it’s your job if it comes to that, lucky you.” Vector spoke over Nasch’s attempt at protest, “plan _a_ , I think, should be laundry day.” 

Nasch squinted at him thoughtfully.

“What’s the face for.” 

“You’re smarter than I give you credit for.”

(You’re stupid for thinking that’s a smart plan.) 

“Maybe you should keep that in mind before ever crossing me.” Vector smirked.

 

 

––––

 

 

“Hey, Nasch?” 

“Mm?” Nasch was watching him put socks on in preparation. 

“Haven’t seen Yuma in awhile. You two have a fight?” 

“Worried about my feelings?”

Vector laughed, “no, I miss having someone here who will fawn over me and make you even more embarrassing.” 

Nasch rolled his eyes, “he’s dating someone. I’ll be seeing him when I go home for the Summer, so there’s no point in coming for the weekend.” 

“Wow, Nasch, who would have guessed you would be the type to only want a boy around when you can sleep with them.” 

Nasch tilted his head, “are you trying to imply I should feel bad for not dating you?” 

He laughed, “god, no way. Anyway, I’m still pretty set on the concept of bringing your crush on Kaito to fruition.” 

“I do not have a crush on Kaito.” 

(Vector was wont to believe him, honestly, but maybe if he said it enough he could tease it into reality, which would be hilarious.) 

Vector nodded sagely, “if you say so.” He winked conspiratorially. 

Nasch looked incredibly frustrated, but said nothing. 

(Good. He was better with his mouth shut.)

Vector pulled a beanie onto his head.

 

 

“You know, you don’t need to– dress like that.” 

Vector looked at him in disgust, “why do you want to ruin all of the fun. You know what you’re gonna say?” 

Nasch nodded, “yeah, gonna talk about the Arclights.”

Vector nodded back, “sounds like a plan…” he glanced at the wall thoughtfully, “huh.” 

“What?”

“We should… not give them to IV.” 

“Why not?”

Vector shrugged, “we don’t owe him anything. They could be our white flag. Declare us a truce and hang them on the wall.” 

Nasch laughed so genuinely that it made Vector feel sick. 

(He couldn’t help smiling back.)

“That’s the best thing you’ve ever said. Not that that’s saying a lot. Okay, deal.” He extended his fist.

Vector looked at it and blinked.

“Just do it, you idiot.”

Vector rolled his eyes and bumped his knuckles against Nasch’s.

“Was that really so ba–”

Vector went to the sink and washed his hands, ignoring Nasch’s annoyed sigh. 

“You have had my dick in your mouth.” 

“Yeah, I recall. I thought about drinking hand sanitizer for like a week afterwards.” Vector replied, drying his hands and clapping them together, “ready?” 

Nasch was still glowering at him, but nodded, and they moved down the hall.

 

 

–––

 

 

“I wish we had heist music.”

“Vector, shut up.” 

Vector mimicked him and got into position, hiding behind where the door would swing out so he wouldn’t be seen. 

Nasch knocked.

“Oi, dumbass.” 

Kaito answered the door after a moment, “what do you want? I’m busy.” 

“To talk. Vector’s being annoying.” He said, and Vector watched him enter the room, darting a hand back to shove the piece of foam they had prepared into the door catch. 

He paused, listening at the door as they moved about, waiting for the codeword.

This was probably needlessly complicated of a plan, but it had been fun to suggest more and more ludicrous ideas and taunt Shark about them. 

“… _keep telling Thomas not to get involved with me, but–”_

There.

He pressed a hand to the door, close to the handle, and bit his lip as he applied pressure, praying the foam had been enough. He cringed as the handle let out a slight click as it shifted. 

He froze, holding his breath, and listened to Nasch talk. 

“At least I’ve got you to sympathise over the goddamn Arclights with. I’d go insane if I was the only one dealing with them.” 

Kaito made a quiet sound of amusement, “at least Thomas is the same age as you. Chris is so infuriating.” 

Vector could hear the smirk in Nasch’s voice (when had he started being able to recognise that) as he continued, “I think they’re equally awful. One of us should have just dated Michael. At least he’s normal.” 

“Well– mostly.’

They both laughed softly, which, frankly, was kind of disturbing, but Vector siezed the chance and dropped to the floor, shoving the door open with his hand extended to catch it. He slipped through and mostly closed it again, on his hands and knees beside the bed, he waited.

He breathed quietly, could see Kaito’s legs– he was standing on the other side of the bed, while Nasch sat on it.

 

 

Vector was trying to decide how best to approach Kaito’s closet– which was behind him – when he caught his own name in the conversation.

“–Summer break is going to be so good, three weeks away from Vector.” 

“You’ll miss him more than you think.”

Vector felt like gagging, and was pleased that Nasch _did_ , “no way. I can’t wait till I get go more than a few hours without having to look at him.” 

Kaito chuckled to himself, and Vector crawled as low to the ground as he could. Clenching his jaw, he glanced up and met Nasch’s eyes. 

Nasch blinked at him. 

(Yeah, fuck him, be patient. He’d get them.) 

“If you say so. Absense makes the heart grow fonder, and all that.” Kaito himself didn’t even sound convinced on that.

Nasch didn’t look away from him, “I think we’d need a decade apart for that to happen.” 

Kaito smirked, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall– Vector pushed himself off with one leg and leapt quickly into the closet that led to his ensuite. 

He just had to get _in_ there. 

He stood slowly and glanced at Nasch, who widened his eyes and stood– wrapping his hand around Kaito’s wrist.

Vector squatted back onto his haunches, watching Nasch pester Kaito for a duel. 

Kaito agreed, shaking his wrist free and telling Nasch not to touch him.

 

 

Nasch shot him a look and a thumbs up when Kaito’s back was turned. 

Vector stood, flipping him off and quickly ducking into the bathroom. He pushing the door closed but stopping it before it latched. 

It was incredibly unjust that RA’s got ensuite bathrooms, but at least it made this mission slightly easier. Kaito’s laundry hamper was where it always was, tucked into the corner, and the tights were directly on the top of the pile. 

(How did he cope with having to wear anything else?) 

Vector folded them and tucked them into the waistband of his own pants so they’d be secured, and stretched out his joints.

They’d discussed how to get him out, and came up with two options.

Either he could crawl back out while Kaito was still talking to Nasch– but this was risky, especially with them now dueling. He might be able to communicate with nasch over his shoulder safely, but getting the door open while it was in Kaito’s line of sight would prove difficult.

The other option was waiting it out in the bathroom until Nasch found an excuse to get Kaito out of the room, which, now that they were dueling, could be a long time.

He ran his hands through his hair and studied his reflection. 

Staying in there risked the potential of Kaito _coming in_ , as well, which would be the end of the game. 

He pulled out his phone.

 

 

**V:** Crawling out gonna be possible?

It was awhile before a response came, he could hear Nasch apologise, saying something about it being Yuma.

**N:** No way, not safe. They were in there?

**V:** He’s not wearing them right now, so obviously. Idiot.

**V:** I can’t even climb out the window– it’s bolted on.

**V:** Are you losing the duel

**N:** We’re two turns in, shut up.

**V:** (^_<) ～☆ You’re on a losing streak. You haven’t beaten him in a month. 

**N:** You haven’t beaten me ever, so shut up or I’ll ask Kaito if I can borrow some hairspray or something. 

**V:** (´ ･ ω ･ `) pwease no

**V:** hewwo? Shawwku? 

**V:** Did you just lose Big Jaws first turn it was out? Lmao.

**V:** I mean, pwease.

**V:** (I wish I could tell Kaito im proud of him for kicking your ass)

**V:** Are you ignoring me or just having a crisis because you’re losing so terribly

**V:** I’d ask you to throw the game so I can get out of here sooner but tbh it’s a lot of fun to listen to and, you’re probably going to lose soon just because you suck anyway. (^_ <) ～☆

**N:** I repeat, you have _never_ beaten me.

**V:** You’re still a loser though

**N:** Crawl out, im sick of you

**N:** Also Kaito is drinking tea so I dont think the bathroom is safe.

**N:** Just stop at the end of the bed and I’ll distract him so you can get to the door.

**V:** (*´ω ｀ )ookay. Are you gonna distract him with your terrible dueling?

 

He locked his phone and made sure the tights were secure, before carefully leaving the bathroom and walking on light feet. He glanced over Kaito’s head at the duel and stuck his tongue out at Nasch.

(He was actually holding his ground fairly well.) 

He took great pleasure in knowing Nasch couldn’t risk reacting in any way, and carefully squatted, getting on his hands and knees and crawling to the end of the bed, keeping his head low.

He peeked over the edge and saw Kaito rearranging the cards in his hand, then looked at the door. 

He could get there very quickly. It would barely take three seconds, it was just the concern over the movement of the thing. Kaito wasn’t oblivious.

He could tell Nasch was aware of how risky it was too, and they were in too far now.

 

“I really don’t feel anything for Vector, you know.”

“Is that why you’ve been more broody than usual today? Bothered I implied you might find him attractive?”

Nasch inhaled, “I don’t have to find someone attractive to have hooked up with them.”

Kaito shrugged, “I suppose that is true.” 

“You don’t believe me?” Vector could hear the slightly nervous tone to Nasch’s voice and widened his eyes, because the _main_ inflection was full of challenge, almost threatening.

He didn’t hear Kaito’s response, but he did hear Nasch put his cards down quickly and the bed shift, and took his chance. 

He scurried to the door and glanced at the bed as he moved behind it, and, holy shit, Nasch was kissing Kaito. 

He pulled the door closed behind himself and panted on his hands and knees now that he was safe.

He heard sounds of complaint from in the room and grinned. 

 

“What are you _doing_?” 

Vector looked up at Alit, who stood above him, arms crossed and a huge grin on his face.

He unfolded his arms and offered a hand to Vector, which he gladly took, standing and brushing his clothes off.

“Nasch and I decided that we have had enough of Kaito’s terrible fashion choices.” He pulled his shirt up slightly to reveal the tights that stuck out of his waist band.

Alit chuckled, “Good call. Your secret is safe with me.” 

He smirked, “he’s probably going to know it’s us anyway.” 

Alit nodded, “yeah. He’s not stupid.” 

“Well– yeah. Exactly.” Vector shrugged, “Now, I gotta run, just in case.” He said, and quickly returned to their dorm, collapsing on the floor once he was there.

There was no point in texting Nasch to taunt him, he’d be here soon enough.

 

–––

 

Vector sat up from the floor when Nasch finally entered.

He grinned, “hello, Shark.” 

Nasch blinked at him, “of course you fucking looked. You had like five seconds to get out and you wasted some to see what I was doing.”

“Was he a good kisser?” 

“He punched me in the jaw for it. And won the duel”

Vector laughed so hard he had to lay back down, “i’m so glad I know him.” 

“Did you get the pants or not?”

He nodded, grabbing them from where he’d tucked them under his bed and tossing them to Nasch.

“So what do we do with them?”

“Get them washed and then frame them?” 

Nasch nodded, and insisted Vector get in a photo with him and the pants. 

Vector read over his shoulder as he sent it to IV.

 

**N:** We don’t want to be in your frat, and we’re keeping these. Thanks for the idea!

 

Vector laughed, “hey, how does it feel to have been with four different dudes in one term?”

“I kissed Kaito for a _second_ to aid your escape, I wasn’t _with him._ ” He muttered broodily, and Vector laughed. 

“I still maintain that you like him.”

“Fuck you.”

Vector rolled his eyes, “you _wish_ you could be so lucky. Maybe next term, if you’re good.” 

Nasch blinked at him. 

(What the fuck.)

Vector laughed nervously, “it was a joke.” 

“Uh-huh.” 

“It was, fuck off.” He grabbed the tights, “i’m going to go get these framed.” 

He grabbed his wallet and keys and shoved the tights into his backpack, leaving quickly.

(He had two nemesis in this dorm: One was Nasch, of course, the other his brain’s unrelenting stupidity.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

_** Epilogue. ** _

 

The last day of term arrived faster than expected for Nasch.

The white flag of surrender proudly adorning their wall had actually done wonders, he and Vector had stuck true to their word, mostly just harmless teasing between them.

It had been somewhat unsettling at first, but Nasch eventually believed this was happening, that they had finally arrived at some place of peace.

They were both packed for the summer break, and Nasch entered their dorm with a cup of coffee in each hand, as much a goodbye gesture as an excuse to use up the free cup on a loyalty card.

He could smell smoke under the door as he approached it, his eyes widening. He unlocked the door quickly and pulled his jacket over his mouth, staring at the smoke rising from the metal trashcan in the centre of the room. 

He filled a bowl with water from the sink and extinguished it quickly, coughing a little.

Glancing around as the smoke begun to disappate, he opened the window to help it escape, noticing Vector’s boxes were already gone, and only a sticky note sat on his empty bed, weighed down by a fork, he could see writing on the both sides of it.

He grabbed it and glanced into the trashcan at the smoldering remains of what had been Kaito’s favourite tights, and groaned.

Nasch sat on the mattress and read the note, scrawled in messy handwriting.

 

_New term means new rules._

_Our truce ends here._

_See you next term, Ryouga._

ベクタ。


	9. Summer Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay so, listen. 
> 
> this is largely just smut, but i needed this to have some closure. 
> 
> thanks, enjoy. o7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~it's explicit~~

He spots a familiar head of orange hair across the crowd, and quickly turns away, weaving through the mass of bodies to try to hide. Unfortunately, he isn’t all that inconscipuous himself. He hears Vector call his name, and by the time he breaks free of the party, the source of the migranes he experienced all of first semester is grinning in front of him. He’s wrapped in a leather jacket with lapels too big for his frame, nursing a cider bottle Ryoga knows he isn’t going to finish. He’s been chewed out by Rio so many times over the summer for throwing away drinks before she’s finished with them– hasn’t managed to find a convincing way to explain that it’s all his shitty roommate’s fault.

“Nasch!” Vector grins, and he actually might have finished a few of those ciders before now, because this smile isn’t one he’s used to. It settles into a smirk after a second, and Ryoga feels far more comfortable with that. “Funny seeing you here.”

“I must have done something truly awful in a previous life to deserve you.”

Vector laughs, all teeth and eyes about it. “Sexy.”

Ryoga scoffs. “I see you’re incorrigable as ever.”

“Would you expect anything less? Also, who says incorrigable? You’re so boring, Shark.”

He swears he can feel his eye twitch, glares at him and folds his arms. Vector immediately imitates the action, playing it up with an exaggerated pout, and he feels stupid. (But not stupid enough to show it bothers him by dropping the pose.)

“It’s summer break. We can pretend we don’t know each other.”

Ryoga might have had one drink too many himself, because he lets his eyelids flutter closed and moans. Vector’s eyebrows shoot up, and he flushes. “Sorry, I imagined having never met you and I think I just came.”

He fidgets under Vector’s gaze, as he’s caught in his stare. “ _What._ ”

“I forgot you could be actually funny.”

He shoves his shoulder just this side of gently. “Shut up.”

Vector smiles. “How’s Yuma been?”

“Haven’t actually seen him a lot. He’s busy with his boyfriend. Kaito probably says ‘fuck off,’ though.” He exhales through his teeth. “Stop waggling your eyebrows. We just caught up a few times.”

Vector shrugs. “I’ll text him. He’s probably pining for me.” He says, and Ryoga doesn’t miss the way his hand strays to his pocket when he says it, retrieving his phone and typing out a message. His mouth tugs into a small smile as he sends it. (He thinks he’d be right to assume Vector misses _Kaito_ , honestly.)

“He and V keep fighting. Chris tries to analyse him too much, and Kaito’s an easy read, so they keep butting heads.”

“They only really work when both of their mouthes are shut.”

“Astute. You should consider going into couples therapy.”

Vector laughs. “You’re okay, Shark. Catch ya round. I’m going to go find someone prettier than you to hook up with.”

“Dick.”

*

He requests a car to take him home and walks with a slight limp from the house. He remembers why he doesn’t hang out at parties, now. He pulls his beer soaked jacket off and squeezes what little alcohol he can from it, looks up at the sound of vomiting. Of course it’s Vector. He approaches slowly, and drops into the gutter beside him as Vector wipes his mouth.

“Too much to drink?”

He shakes his head. “Got punched in the throat.”

He isn’t surprised, and doesn’t care enough to ask what he did. He existed, and that’s enough reason for Ryoga to want to punch him in the throat, so he can’t fault anyone else for doing it. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

It’s quiet, and it’s cold, and Vector’s jacket is gone, his shirt thin and also distracting in how it clings to his arms. “Summer break means we can pretend nothing tonight happened, right.” He tests, sliding closer.

Vector, elbows on his knees, hands cradling his head, looks to him. “Yeah.”

He presses their sides together and wraps his arms around him. Vector starts for a split second before leaning into it.

“Why do you smell so good?” His voice is muffled against Ryoga’s shoulder. He drops his head on top.

“Natural musk.”

“You’re so stupid, you know that?”

He laughs, and lets go of him. “Stay cold then.” He says, and ignores Vector’s drunken protests to check his phone, standing and wincing as he hears the car approach. He looks down at the idiot clutching his good leg. “Get up, I’ll let you stay at my place.”

“If you wanted to take me home and have your way with me you could have said so earlier. Didn’t need to waste hours at the party.”

“I’m gonna ignore that in hopes it’ll make you shut up.” He says, and opens the car door, getting in and shifting over so Vector can join him. He’s met with a smirk, and speaks first. “It wont work, will it?”

“Not at all.”

*

He’d never intended to make a habit of catching Vector sleeping, but the fact of the matter was, Vector didn’t sleep at night, so he was usually just falling when Ryoga woke for classes. Also, he screamed in his sleep sometimes. He helps Vector inside, ignoring his protesting ankle, and groans when he throws himself across the entire bed, pulling the blankets around himself. Ryoga rolls his eyes, and strips down to his underwear. Vector’s too drunk and comfortable now to make a snide comment, so he walks over and tugs on his shoe.

“Oi, Vector. You need to take these off.”

The foot is thrust in his general direction wildly, and he catches it. “You do it, Nasch.”

He doesn’t know why he does anything for him, but he unzips and removes the boot, then the other, and climbs into the tiny remaining section of bed available. He uses his entire body to shove Vector across so that he fits, and adjusts his pillow until he’s somewhat comfortable.

“Vector?” He tries, and hears the sound of heavy breathing. He turns his head and sees him, drooling happily on his pillow, dead to the world as he sleeps off his liquor. He sighs, and puts both of their phones on charge. “Good night, Shingetsu.” He mumbles.

*

**

*

Vector wakes up, and there’s hair in his mouth, and a person in his arms, and his skin is warm against the other body’s. He shuffles backwards and releases his captive, and groans when he sees it’s Nasch. Still half-asleep, he burrows into the pillow and gazes at him, runs over ideas for how to mess with him. He’s trying to decide between drawing a shark or a dick on his cheek, when it fully dawns on him that he’s halfway naked. It isn’t as though he and Nasch hadn’t shared a room for a semester sleeping in their underwear, but sharing a bed this way, ~~cuddling~~ _touching_ while basically nude, was another story.

Given their troubling history, he shifts, tries to figure out if anything happened. He barely remembers running into his roommate at all. He reaches out and pinches his nose. Nasch, as usual, sucks the fun out of everything, jerking his neck back and cracking open one eye. “I’m awake, bastard.”

“You’re grumpy as ever in the mornings, I see.”

“Maybe it’s just when I’m forced to deal with you first thing.”

Vector flashes his teeth, then bites at his cheek because Nasch’s eye closes again. “Hey, did we–”

“I wouldn’t take advantage of you when you’re drunk.”

Vector wants to point out that that’s precisely how they started to tread troubling ground in the first place, but he’s too warm in Nasch’s sheets, and the heat from his _body_ is nice, and despite everything, he’s always had a soft spot for his cologne, which lingers on his skin and in his bed in an all-round pleasant way. He shifts closer, tells himself that he’s still not sober, so this is fine, and tells Nasch the opposite. “Not drunk now, and you wouldn’t be taking advantage.”

“Hn?”

“Come on, you could at least open your eyes.”

Nasch squints at him. “Are you doing this so you can be a dick if I agree?”

“I can wait to be a dick till after we bang, if you want.”

“Can I gag you?”

“Not fatally, you’d use it as an excuse to strangle me to death.”

“Damn, then what’s the point.”

Their sleep-thick voices lend a soft quality to their usual banter, and Vector’s still drawn in by the way he smells, drifting closer. They share a quiet moment, before Vector goes for it. He brings his face up against Nasch’s, nudging his nose with his own. He doesn’t _quite_ kiss him, bumping their lips together. “Ryoga, I want to have sex.”

“You sure?”

“God, not _now_. You’re so boring _._ ” He groans, and that’s when Nasch kisses him, their lips connecting, all soft and cotton-mouthed from the alcohol. He’s just getting into it, when Nasch draws back.

“What do you– We haven’t, had sex before.”

Vector rolls his eyes, and climbs onto him, plants hands either side of his head. He’s aware his breath probably smells and tastes awful, but it’s Nasch, so he doesn’t care. “Kamishiro Ryoga. I, Vector, want to have lazy sunday morning sex with you, and I want you to stop fucking talking before you kill the mood anymore than you do just by existing.”

“God, I hate you.”

“If you wanted to make me hornier, it’s working.” He sneers, and leans down to press their mouthes together again. He rolls his hips against Nasch’s, tries to forget he’s never done this, that virginity is a Thing and he’s giving his to his goddamn roommate. He figures he can kill him for it some day, and it’ll be worth the payoff. Nasch gasps quietly and he’s focused on the desire to once more draw those sounds from him, more of tiny, desperate moans. He thinks he maybe has a thing for being in control, just as Nasch’s hands catch his hips and pull him down, and there’s pressure and, _god_ , Vector closes his eyes and rocks his body against him, pressing his tongue between his lips.

“Vector– You’re– Can we–” Nasch sits up, disrupting them, and sort of wrestles him onto his back before he realises what’s happening and stops fighting it. He lets his legs fall open and Nasch crawls between them, hands looping under his head as he kisses him. His hips stutter when Nasch’s body shifts, and, okay, this was a good idea. His experience speaks for itself, and Vector’s so hard it aches.

He pushes on his head. “Nasch.”

“Ryoga.” He corrects, and he raises an eyebrow. “It’s– less weird.” He says, already moving down his body, shucking him of his boxers. Vector shivers as the air touches him, then sighs contently when Nasch’s hand wraps around, mouth not far behind.

He imagines _any_ mouth on his dick would feel good, but god, he thinks Shark must be particularly talented in the field, because he feels all sensible thought melt from his brain. He tilts his head back, inhaling sharply as his tongue catches along a particularly sensitive spot, reaching down, he cards his fingers through his hair appreciately, hips bucking upwards.

The warmth on his body is halted far too soon, and he sits up, panting and flushed, at the sudden depraval. Nasch’s cheeks are pink, lips wet, eyes more bashful than he’d expect from a man who just made him feel like that. “Why did you–”

“Lube. Drawer beside you.”

Vector tries not to think about the implications, or about Nasch giving him an _order_ , retrieving it and flicking the cap off, he hands the bottle to him, breathing heavy. He takes it, slathers a hand in it liberally before returning the other to his cock and leaning down to drag his tongue from the base to the tip. He falters. “Are you going to stare the entire time?”

He shakes his head, dropping back into the bed. He lets the feeling of Nasch’s tongue overwhelm his senses as his legs spread at his nudging. Shivering at the sensation of a hand tracing down to his entrance, Vector breathes through his nose as a finger circles, before slowly pushing inside. Nasch’s mouth proves an effective distraction, drawing quiet, breathy moans from him as it works, a second finger pressing inside of him and curling. He raises his hips, eyes wide open.

“Ryoga–”

“If we don’t go slow, this won’t be any fun for you.”

He wishes he could roll his eyes, but he’s too busy drowning in the way his fingers and his tongue move in tandem, Nasch only straying from his task long enough to respond. But Vector’s never had much patience, and he didn’t ask for just a blowjob, so he twists his hand through his hair and pulls his head up to look at him. Nasch’s eyes snap open, sharp and attentive. He smirks, and it doesn’t quite match the uncertainty of his words. “Just because… I haven’t fucked anyone, doesn’t mean I haven’t had things inside me. I’m good.”

He can tell Nasch wants to ask, so he twists his hair more, using it as a hande to drag him up his body. Releasing his hair, he reaches between them, does the work for Nasch and frees him from his underwear, before grabbing the sidelined bottle of lube and stroking a small helping of it along his length. Nasch kisses him again, and he doesn’t really care either way at this point, releasing him when he’s adequately prepared, he lifts his legs to wrap around his waist. Nasch grunts, bringing a hand down to support his back, he uses the other to drag a pillow and wedge it beneath his hips. Vector releases slightly, lets it take his weight, and looks to Nasch impatiently.

“Come on, get to the good part.” He murmurs, and tries to ignore the whine in his voice, dragging his nails down his spine as retaliation, he smirks when Nasch gasps softly, adjusting his position. His hands grip Vector’s waist as he slowly enters him, steadily filling him until he bottoms out, his back arching in his hands. He grunts through his teeth at the feeling, fumbling blinding for Nasch’s hair to drag his mouth to meet his own, to find a way to quiet the sounds. He pushes their lips together shakily, and rocks his hips. “Gods, yes. Go.”

Nasch doesn’t hesitate once he’s sure, settling into a slow rhythm, pressing in as deeply as he can before drawing out in bold strokes. Their bodies press together, sweating and moaning in sync, Vector draws blood on Nasch’s lips and smirks when he hisses in pain and bites him back twice as hard.

“We should have done this months ago, school would have been so much more fun.”

“Will you _shut up_?”

Nasch’s hand squeezes his as he draws a particularly thick moan from deep in Vector’s throat (since when were their fingers laced.) He turns his face to the side, sucking in breath as Nasch quickens his pace to a determined rhythm, a broken grunt to his breath as he works. Vector closes his eyes and lets it take him, finishing into the sheets with Nasch not far behind, spilling into him with a desperate moan, lips closing at his throat, biting. He tries to bring himself to care about the marks, but he can’t, too wrapped up in sex and warmth and afterglow.

Nasch pulls himself free, and Vector keeps his eyes closed as he feels his weight leave the bed. He takes the towel he’s handed, cleaning up as much as he can bring himself to care for, and spreads across the mattress as much as he can, in a sleep and sex induced haze.

“If you try to cuddle me, I’ll never have sex with you again.” He murmurs without opening an eye. He hears Nasch scoff, the sounds of clothes being pulled on.

“I’m going to go shower. Don’t burn down my house while im gone.”

“No promises.” He manages to respond quietly, face pressed into the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> authors notes:
> 
> i went into this intending, wholeheartedly, to write from Nasch's perspective, and then realised how much i hated doing that and swapped


End file.
